


The Madison-Burr Alliance

by barricadebastard



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, God Bless My Beta, M/M, Matchmaking, james and aaron are the ultimate besties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7931626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadebastard/pseuds/barricadebastard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron and James bond over their crushes, and form an unbreakable alliance, in order to get each other with their dream men. Unfortunately, their matchmaking doesn't work out as well as they hoped.</p><p>
  <a href="http://alexanburrsir.tumblr.com/post/146642959333/man-i-am-kind-of-just-in-desperate-need-of-a">USING THIS PROMPT</a>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Questions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexanburrsir](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=alexanburrsir).



> THIS IS THE PROMPT AN ANON ASK SENT TO ALEXANBURRSIR AND THE RESPONSE
> 
> (ask) man i am kind of just in desperate need of a hamburr/jeffmads fic where burr and james are friends and try to help each other get with their future bfs (with alex and thomas arguing in the background)  
> \-------------  
> (alexanburrsir) I cannot BELIEVE EVERYTHING I TYPED UP DISAPPEARED IM SO ANGRY
> 
> Basically they go and ask the other one’s crush (James asks Alexander, Aaron asks Thomas) “So, are you seeing anyone? Is there anyone you have your eyes on atm? What’s your ideal first date? Favorite food?”
> 
> Gathering all this information for the other so they can get the courage to ask their crush out and have the perfect date because they have all this inside information! There’s no way it can go wrong!
> 
> Except both Alexander and Thomas take the interrogation wrong and assume James was asking because /he/ wanted to ask Alexander out, and the same with Aaron and Thomas. So it’s a huge mess.
> 
> Even worse if Thomas is like “It’s one little date. And James doesn’t like me back anyway, so what will it hurt?” So he actually asks Aaron out and James feels so hurt and betrayed and everything is a huge mess x30.
> 
> http://alexanburrsir.tumblr.com/post/146642959333/man-i-am-kind-of-just-in-desperate-need-of-a

“Go on, you can do this,” Aaron says encouragingly, warm smile on his face as he nudges James towards where the other man is sitting. “It’s not like this is the first time you’ve spoken to him.”

It’s true; James has interacted with Alex many times, particularly a year ago when they had been partnered for several projects. But this is _different,_ and Aaron knows it’s different. This isn’t the same as brainstorming ideas for their presentation. This is personal and intimate, and James isn’t the biggest fan of anything personal and intimate. Particularly not in this situation. Aaron knows that and he hates to make his friend uncomfortable, but, well... James just needs to suck it up for a little while.

James sighs. He’s already promised Aaron that he would speak to Alex; there’s no way out of it now. “You promise that you’ll talk to Thomas then?”

“I _promise,”_ Aaron says in a patient tone, instead of pointing out that he had already repeated the sentence at least ten times that day. “Now _go,_ before he leaves.”

James shoots Aaron one last sceptical look before sliding out of the chair. Aaron watches him with an uncharacteristic agitation thrumming through his veins, as James settles next to Alex at the table. He can’t hear what they’re talking about, and he isn’t particularly great at lip-reading. With no idea what’s happening just feet away from him, Aaron chooses to fiddle nervously with the foam material of his coffee cup. It isn’t that he doesn’t _trust_ James, because he does (the two were kindred spirits in many ways) but Alex has a way of making him very irrational.

After what seemed like centuries, James returns to the table with a small, knowing smile. Instead of sitting down, he downs the remaining dregs of his coffee before gesturing towards the door. Aaron follows him out of the small, cramped coffee shop, using every last ounce of self-restraint to not demand details like an over-excited schoolgirl with a crush. His shoulders are visibly tense, and James’ smug expression isn’t helping him relax either.

But self-restraint only lasts so long. The moment the door swings shut behind them, Aaron grabs James’ arm and digs his nails into his skin. James hisses, but Aaron looks far more pained than he does when he asks, “What did he say?”

“Calm down, Aaron. I’ll tell you when you stop digging your claws into my arm.”

Aaron releases the other man, feeling vaguely guilty when he sees the half-moon crescents littered across James’ forearm. His inability to act normal whenever a situation involved Alexander Hamilton is slightly embarrassing, but he and James have spent enough time gushing over crushes to worry about what the other was thinking. After all, if James tries to embarrass Aaron later with this incident, Aaron has a video of an extremely drunk James getting emotional over how beautiful Thomas is.

Not that James doesn’t have a similar video starring Aaron.

“So?” Aaron prompts, trying to keep the impatience out of his tone - a difficult feat. James smiles, looking entirely too secretive for Aaron’s own good.

“He’s not seeing anyone, and said he’s a big fan of flowers,” James finally states. “And his favourite flowers are blue hydrangeas or pink carnations.”

Aaron nods, finally letting himself relax. Hydrangeas or carnations. Simple, not majorly expensive, could probably be found at the average flower shop. Aaron is just grateful that Alex hadn't mentioned an obscure and rare flower that he'd have to travel halfway across the country for, or pay a small fortune to buy.

“Of course, this is Alexander we're talking about, so he went into a lecture about why he liked them and what they mean in the flower language, like I give an actual shit-”

Aaron's eyes light up. “He knows the flower language? That’s…" Aaron hesitates with the word 'cute’, because he still has _some_ dignity to retain, but it’s certainly endearing. Of course Alex can’t form an opinion about flowers without researching its history and meaning.

James looks a little exasperated, lips pursed as though he’s refraining from saying something he might regret. “Can you go and ask Thomas now?”

The little euphoric bubble Aaron had been enjoying is burst all too quickly. It takes an indescribable amount of effort to prevent a scowl twisting his lips at the mention of the man. He has never been particularly chummy with Thomas even before, but seeing him continuously be oblivious to James’ enamorment has made him slightly less inclined towards him. James is _terrible_ at hiding his emotions around Thomas, and could often be found flustered and stuttering when around him. It’s painfully clear that he had feelings for Thomas; either the man is as thick as a wall when it comes to emotions, or he’s pretending not to notice to avoid rejecting his best friend.

“What, _now?”_

 _“Yes,_ now,” James says firmly. “I talked to Alex, just like you wanted. I want to see you uphold your end of the deal now before you find a way to wriggle out of it.”

Aaron pulls an exaggeratedly offended look that makes James snort with amusement, before resigning himself to his fate.

“Do you know where he is right now?”

James has already pulled out his phone, his surprisingly nimble fingers tapping the screen with a grace that isn’t found in many people. Within seconds of sending a text, his face softens, a small smile stretching his lips. It’s slightly sickening how in love he was. But then again, Aaron isn’t one to talk either.

“He’s at the park,” James says finally, ripping his gaze away (clearly reluctantly) to look up at Aaron. “Near the pond where Lee fell in last time.”

Aaron hums, stealing one last glance behind him, where he can see Alex through the glass, hunched in his chair with his face illuminated by the laptop in front of him, typing furiously as though his life depends on it. A lock of hair escapes his hair tie and falls in his face, and Alex gives a huff that’s evidently frustrated even from this distance. Aaron imagines tucking it behind Alex’s ear-

“Hey,” James says, snapping his fingers in front of Aaron’s face. He turns back around, face burning at being caught, even if it’s just James.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “You want me to go now?”

* * *

Thomas is a dick, and Aaron isn’t entirely sure what James sees in him.

Actually, that’s a lie. Thomas can, occasionally, be an asshole, but he usually saved most of his dick-ishness for Alex. He’s tall, attractive, etc, and Aaron sort of understands why James is so obsessed with him, even if he doesn’t share his interest for the man. But he’s often the cause of James’ low moods, and, regardless of whether that’s accidental or not, Aaron can’t forgive him so quickly.

But on top of all his attractive features, Thomas isn’t stupid. There is no way that Aaron could possibly slip the questions into casual conversation without Thomas noticing. It’s simple enough with Alex, who is the picture definition of obliviousness when it comes to reading people. But Thomas will _know_ something is wrong. Aaron has never been bothered by his astuteness in the past, but he can’t help but curse it now.

Now, Thomas is stood at the edge of the pond, throwing small chunks of bread to the ducks. As Aaron nears, he notices the almost child-like look of excitement that adorns Thomas’ face as he watches a particularly young duck approach. Why did both Aaron and James pick the most brilliant and yet most childish people to fall in love with?

Aaron coughs to announce his presence. Thomas was apparently so engrossed in the ducks that he drops the remaining chunks of bread in surprise. To his credit, he recovers quickly, sending Aaron an accusatory glare.

“You did that on purpose,” he says, complete with a pout and a furrowed brow, sounding so petulant that Aaron has to bite back a smile.

“Of course,” Aaron says in a patronising tone. Thomas _hates_ being patronised, and patronising people is Aaron’s favourite (and only) hobby. It’s strange how well they get along sometimes, despite their differences. “I need to ask you some questions.”

James might be patient enough to slip the questions into normal conversation, but if Thomas is going to notice something is off, then the least Aaron can do is get this over with quickly.

Thomas raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms. Aaron knows he’s probably nervous about the sudden confrontation, but Thomas is good at hiding his emotions - almost as good as Aaron - and it’s almost impossible to tell whether he’s being aggressively confrontational or defensive with his pose.

“But first, I need you to promise that, after you answer, you pretend that I’ve never asked,” Aaron says firmly. Thomas’ eyebrows rise further as Aaron ploughs on. “This never happened and we won’t be acknowledging it. Ever.”

Thomas’ lips stretch into the wicked grin that is so often seen on his face. “What are you willing to pay for my silence?”

Aaron sighs. Desperate times call for desperate measures, he tells himself, as he pulls out his phone and opens up a video he had been saving purely for blackmail material. It shows James in a black cat onesie, clearly drunk and pouting at the camera with several shot glasses in the background. Thomas’ eyes light up immediately, and he reaches for the phone, only to have his slapped away.

“You’ve got to answer my questions first,” Aaron reminds him, pocketing the phone. Thomas nods stiffly as though trying to hide his excitement, but Aaron can read the glee lighting his eyes better than anyone else. “Are you seeing anyone right now?” When Thomas quirks a curious eyebrow, Aaron elaborates, “Romantically. Are you romantically interested in anyone? Or even sexually?”

Each sentence just makes Thomas look more bewildered. It’s a good look on him; Aaron just wishes he could take a photo without the other man realising. “Why do you want to know?”

Aaron drags a heavy hand over his face, fighting the urge to sigh for what must have been the billionth time in such a short conversation. “Didn’t we agree that we’re not going to make a big deal out of this? Just answer the question, Jefferson.”

“Oh, so we’re using last names?” Thomas says with mock offence before smirking. “I’ll have you know that I’m wondrously single at the moment. Why?”

Aaron ignores the question. “Do you like flowers? In particular, receiving flowers from a guy who’s romantically interested in you?”

“I’m not the biggest fan of flowers,” Thomas answers immediately. “They’re too much work when they’re real, and fake flowers are shit. Are you going to tell me why yet?”

“No,” Aaron says immediately. “Thanks though.”

And with that, he turns on his heel and begins to walk down the not-so-gentle slope of the hill. He knows Thomas is still watching him - he can practically feel his gaze scorching a hole through his t-shirt - so he tries to wait until he's out of sight before he embarrasses himself. Of course, disasters don’t wait until they’re most convenient, and so Aaron finds himself stumbling gracelessly as he trips over a rock.

Dammit.

* * *

“Why am I here?” Aaron asks, voice resigned as he approaches where James is sitting cross-legged on the floor of his dorm. He's been attempting to get a start on some of his assignments after feeling motivated for the first time in _months,_ but hadn't even had time to open the document before James had texted him. Surprisingly, the man had forgone punctuation and spell check, which usually implied that James was so frantic that he thought the issue was more important than correct English. Which is saying something.

James pats the floor next to him without looking up. Aaron takes his cue to sit down, disgruntled by the lack of attention. In front of him is a large sheet of paper and, in the middle, what looks like a mind map. “What’s this?”

James looks up at Aaron, then at the sheet. “Oh,” is all he says, clearly embarrassed as he grabs the sheet and tries to shove it under the bed. But Aaron is quicker, and he manages to wrangle the sheet away without ripping it, grinning in triumph when he sees James groan and cover his face.

It’s a mind map, with the word 'Thomas’ in the middle. Around it are questions, presumably ones that James wants to ask. Most of them are unanswered, but two of them - 'are you seeing anyone?’ and 'how do you feel about flowers?’ - have a short paragraph underneath.

“You made a mind map about Thomas?” Aaron says with an incredulous grin. This is amazing. Aaron had known James was far gone but this is better than anything Aaron could have ever imagined. Did he have flowcharts too?

James’ head drops into his hands in humiliation. Aaron doesn't feel remotely sorry for him, especially not considering James still has that drunk-crying video he’s been refusing to delete. He tries to bite back his smile as he waits for James to explain.

“Yes,” he says finally, voice muffled by his hands. “It’s a fucking mind map. Are you happy now?”

“You have no idea how happy I am,” Aaron admits finally. “This is the best thing that’s happened to me all week. You’re such a _nerd._ And I thought _I_ was bad.”

“Don’t worry, you’re not much better,” James grumbles, moving his hands away. “I’ve written Alex on the back but since you don’t appreciate my organisational prowes-”

Aaron turns the paper around so quickly that it almost rips, making James’ eyes widen in concern. The poor man probably spent hours on this, carefully choosing each question.

Sure enough, on the back is a similar mind map with Alex’s name. The same questions from Thomas’ mind map have been written again in the same order. In the top left corner is **‘ _are you seeing anyone?_ ’** and, underneath, James has written in his neat block handwriting, ‘ _ **currently single, denied romantic relationship with John Laurens, talked for ten minutes instead of answering with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’** _ .’ Beneath it, ‘ _ **how do you feel about flowers?** _ ’ is answered with _‘ **is pathetically excited at the idea of receiving flowers, favourites are pink carnations and blue hydrangeas which was strangely specific, knows the flower language for some strange reason**_ ’.

“Oh, _now_ you’re okay with mind maps,” James grumbles, leaning back against the wall.

Aaron looks up. “I may have sent Thomas that video of you in a cat onesie and drunk-babbling about how pretty the stars are.”

_“Wait, what?!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i originally wrote this entire fic in past tense, and had to go back to change it into present tense because it seemed to fit the fic better. if you see any mistakes where i've left it in past tense, PLEASE let me know and i'll change it. i keep finding more every time i read it, but now i'm tired and ready to release my trash into the big, wide world
> 
> i have 10,000 words of this written, so when i say the next update will be pretty soon, i might actually be telling the truth for once in my damn life
> 
> (james has a black cat onesie, and aaron has a matching grey one. they wear it on 'pining days', and they get drunk and lament about how beautiful thomas and alex are)
> 
> [lafayettes-baguette](http://www.lafayettes-baguette.tumblr.com) is my tumblr 
> 
> beta'd by [fillertexted](http://www.fillertexted.tumblr.com) previously known as rainyquasars


	2. The Survey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as promised, chapter two! 
> 
> (for those of you who have read the latest chapter of jml, you'll know that john/laf/alex are going on their first date together. there's a sneaky reference in this fic about where, exactly, they're going. see if you can spot it!)

“Do you ever wonder how much someone thinks about you?”

Aaron glances at James, who’s neglecting his assignment in favour of staring wistfully out of the window. There’s a longing in his eyes, the sort of yearning that only comes from the deepest pits of one's heart, a longing that belies an excruciatingly painful ache that has not simmered down for years. So this is about Thomas then.

“I'm sure Thomas thinks about you _all_ the time,” he says dryly. James shoots him a look that Aaron doesn’t respond to.

But now that the question has been poised, Aaron can’t get it out of his head. How often does Alex think of him?  How many times a day does Aaron even briefly feature in his thoughts? It’s impossible to tell; the man's mind must be like a whirlwind, with a billion thoughts fighting for attention. It’s entirely possible that Aaron isn’t worth a second of Alex's day, and he finds himself bitterly jealous of anyone that has managed to earn some of the man's mind. Particularly John Laurens. Those two are too close for their own damn good.

At least James spends  _time_ with Thomas.

“You've stopped typing,” James points out with a small, amused smile. Aaron sighs heavily, saving the document he had been working on before carefully closing the laptop lid and sliding it under the bed.

“Thanks for making me think stupid thoughts about stupid boys I don't even care about,” he says. Last thing he needs now is to fail college because he can’t get over a silly crush that has been stretching on for almost two years now.

“If they make you happy, then they're not stupid thoughts.”

“They weren't happy.”

“Oh.”

A pause. “If you 'don’t even care’ about Alex, does that mean you don't want to start working on that mind map?”

Aaron glances up, apparently too quickly and too hopefully, because James begins to chuckle. As though _he_ has the right to judge him for his patheticness, especially not when he’s the one who spent an entire lecture shooting love-sick glances at Thomas earlier that day, much to the amusement of the entire row. James isn’t known for being able to hide his emotions, and thus James’ infatuation and Thomas’ obliviousness has become a regular source of entertainment on campus.

“Can we just accept that neither of us have dignity and move on?” Aaron huffs.

Thankfully, James doesn’t comment, and instead pulls the large sheet from a drawer and unfolds it. The first thing Aaron notices is that each question had been numbered. First and second were the questions they had already succeeded in getting answers to, and it takes Aaron only a second to realise that James has already decided in which order the questions are going to be asked.

He opens his mouth to make a dry comment, but is cut off by James’ reminder of, “No dignity, remember?”

Question number three is ‘what’s your favourite food?’. Simple enough, Aaron hopes. But Thomas is observant and probably already keeping a watchful eye out for Aaron after the past two interrogations.

“Yours is so much easier,” James is grumbling. “You always talk to Thomas. The only time I ever talk to Alex is to ask these questions and it’s so _suspicious.”_

“As if Alex would notice anything,” Aaron says in a tone that’s supposed to be derisive, but somehow comes out sounding fond. “He’s not exactly known for paying attention.”

“I don’t know why you like him,” James mumbles. It was something James has wondered aloud many times, and Aaron has never told him. Partly because he doesn’t need to explain himself to someone who cries about another man every time he gets drunk, and partly because he knows that, once he begins, he would never stop listing all his favourite qualities about Alex, from his fiery nature that refuses to be quelled, to the sleepy smile he shoots Aaron sometimes, when he hasn’t lied down in his own bed in too long.

And besides, he doesn’t need _reasons_ to love someone - or at least, he _thinks_ he loves. He is, understandably, hesitant to use the word ‘love’ in conjunction with Alex. It reminds Aaron too much of how everything could go irreversibly, disastrously wrong, but it also sounded so _good._

God, he’s pathetic.

“So next one is favourite food, and, since I'm seeing Alex in our next lecture, I'm confident I can get you an answer by the end of the day.”

“Why,” Aaron begins in a resigned tone, “Do you need to know Thomas’ favourite food? And why do _I_ need to know Alex’s?”

James raises an eyebrow just enough for Aaron to acknowledge that the other man is judging him. James has a habit of doing that; he manages to make even the most rational of people feel as though they have done something incredibly stupid. “Well, first dates are always better if the other person is enjoying the food, right?”

“Aren’t they going to order their food themselves?”

“Who says your first date is going to be a restaurant? They might prefer a home-cooked meal, or a picnic. Hence the reason why the next question is ‘ideal date’.”

“In that case, shouldn’t we ask them their ideal date first?”

James’ brows knit together in a way that meant he’d realised he’s wrong but is also unwilling to admit it. Aaron knows that James will continue to calmly argue his point until the day he dies, regardless of whether or not he’s realised he’s wrong; it’s easier if both of them pretend that James had been correct and moved on, allowing the man to lick his wounds silently.

“Are you questioning me?”

Ah, the fateful question that would determine whether or not James would stay up all night, providing point after well-thought-out point for his argument. Thankfully, Aaron has learnt the correct answer, after years of friendship.

“Of course not. Do you know where Thomas would be right now?”

* * *

In the end, James and Aaron agree that the entire affair with asking questions is painful on  _both_ ends, and it’d be mutually beneficial to end it as soon as possible. And so, they had typed up the questions on James’ laptop and printed them out in the form of a questionnaire. It is, in a way, an attempt to rip the band-aid off as quickly as possible. Aaron tries to remind himself of this reasoning as he grows more and more frustrated with Thomas, who is carefully draped across a chair in the library and frowning down at the sheet.

“This is awfully suspicious,” Thomas says, eyes still trained on the paper.

“Just answer the damn questions,” Aaron sighs, fixing his gaze on the shelf in the hopes that, if he doesn’t make eye-contact, Thomas will write down his answers without engaging in conversation. Unlikely, but worth a try. This is already awkward enough as it is, and the only saving grace at this point is that, at the very least, James is getting similar information from Alex.

“Why?” Thomas asks stubbornly. The pen remains on the table. The sheet is glaringly empty. Aaron contemplates strangling him.

“It’s a survey,” Aaron lies through gritted teeth. He has never been more thankful for his ability to maintain a straight face. “I’m cataloguing people’s first dates and comparing them to dates later on in a relationship, so you’re not _special,_ believe it or not _._ And I’d appreciate it if you’d start _writing_ so I can get this over and done with.”

Thomas blinks. The silence stretches on for longer than Aaron is comfortable with. Aaron’s a good liar, but Thomas is even better at reading people. It was all he can do to not fidget under Thomas’ burning gaze, and he focuses his efforts on steadily meeting his eye and letting the man’s gaze burn into his soul. After a long moment, Thomas shrugs and picks up the pen, beginning to answer the questions.

Aaron watches him carefully write one-line sentences (or, occasionally, just a phrase - something that makes Aaron bite back a frustrated scowl) in loopy handwriting, far fancier than is wholly necessary, not unlike Thomas himself.

“I still think it’s suspicious,” Thomas mumbles under his breath, but Aaron doesn’t care. The paper is almost complete and, once he reaches the last question, Aaron will never have to ask Thomas weird date-related questions ever again. The awkwardness will be over forever, and Aaron will be _free._

With a flourish, Thomas answers the last question. He drops the pen on the table but, when Aaron reached for the sheet, holds it out of his reach.

“What are you doing?” Aaron asks flatly.

Thomas grins, a self-satisfied thing that almost falls into ‘smirk’ territory. It makes Aaron want to punch him, and, not for the first time, he curses James for falling for a man like him.

“I’m not giving it to you unless you tell me why you want to know,” Thomas tells him. “I _know_ you’re lying about the survey.”

Deep breaths. Talk as little as possible. Smile more. Don’t let him know any more than is necessary. “It _is_ a survey. You’re not even the first person I went to.”

_“Really?”_

Thankfully, Aaron has planned in advance for this situation. He had known that Thomas wouldn’t readily accept his explanation; the man is the very definition of scepticism and will question anything without hesitation, _particularly_ if his difficult behaviour will cause grief for others, hence the reason why he and Alex are always arguing. Aaron has never been on the receiving end of this particular personality trait, but, now that he is, he can somewhat sympathise with Alex.

“Fine.” He reaches into his bag to produce a sheet of paper, identical to the one in Thomas’ hand. There are already writing, in the form of small neat blocks, on each question. At Thomas’ questioning look, he adds, “It’s James’ answers. So _clearly,_ you’re not special.”

Thomas’ grin only grows. “I’ll give you my answers, but only if you let me see that sheet.”

That… hadn’t been what Aaron was expecting. The only reason he had asked James to fill the sheet in was because he didn’t want Thomas thinking Aaron had a crush on him (god forbid). What could Thomas possibly want the information for? Unless…

“Do you…” Aaron begins disbelievingly before trailing off.

“I’m afraid I have to ask you to elaborate,” Thomas says, raising an eyebrow as though daring Aaron to question him. Aaron hesitates.

“Why do you want his answers?”

“Why do _you_ want _my_ answers?”

“Goddammit, Thomas, stop being difficult,” Aaron replies, rubbing a hand over his face, feeling wearier than he has been for a long while. “Just pass me the sheet then.”

Thomas opens his mouth to reply, but, before he can, the paper is snatched right out of his hand. Aaron winces at the crick that comes from Thomas’ neck when he turns around, before Aaron’s gaze falls on the current owner of the sheet.

“Is he bothering you, Aaron?” Alex asks, grinning brightly. The bags under his eyes seem less pronounced, and he appears to be much more alert than he normally is. Maybe he managed more than his usual four hours of sleep.

“It’s fine,” Aaron replies, the smile on his lips fonder than he had been aiming for. “Mind passing me that sheet?”

Alex leans over the table to hand it to him, but not without flashing a smug look at a disgruntled Thomas. Aaron carefully tucks both sheets in his bag.

“Choke on a rabbit dick,” Thomas says in a falsely sweet tone.

“Choke on a _chipmunk_ dick,” is Alex’s response, making Aaron roll his eyes.

“Alex, have you started Washington’s assignment?” Aaron asks, praying that the question will be enough to distract Alex from a full-blown argument about animal genitals. Sure enough, Alex launches into a long-winded tirade about both the contents of his assignment so far, and his anger at the word limit. A year ago, Aaron would have been annoyed by the man’s inability to identify at what point is ‘too much’, but now Aaron can’t find it anything other than endearing.

Thomas clearly _doesn’t_ find it as endearing, as he rolls his eyes and leaves table, grumbling under his breath.

“And I _told_ him, there’s no way I can fit everything into only 3000 words-”

“Wanna get coffee?” Aaron interrupts.

Alex’s tirade stutters to a halt, and Aaron is immediately cursing himself for not thinking this through. Alex's mouth has fallen open slightly, and Aaron is sure his own face is showing his surprise, but he's too busy panicking to re-arrange his features. But before he can retract his statement, Alex smiles. It’s not a grin - it’s too soft, too quiet, too much of everything that Alex isn’t and yet it looks so _right_ on his lips, intimate and personal and Aaron _really_ wants to kiss him-

“I’d love to get coffee."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't think i've ever been this excited for a fic?? like, ever?? not even jml or slp?? 
> 
> also, if you guys wanna send me your fave fics for rent, i would worship you for days (why is the rent fandom so small??? ugh)


	3. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tis i, craving validation and love once again

The two of them are sitting at a table in Aaron’s favourite coffee shop. He loves it because it’s quieter than the Starbucks further up the road, most likely _because_ there’s a Starbucks further up the road. It’s modest and familiar and welcoming, and they make the best cappuccinos.

Alex, however, is in disbelief, because they don’t have WiFi.

“It’s ridiculous,” Alex is  saying, hands flying to emphasise his point and almost knocking over his coffee. “Like, they're competing against a freaking _Starbucks,_ everyone's gonna go there! Shouldn't the first thing they get, after a coffee machine, be free WiFi for students who want to get their work done?”

Aaron sips his drink calmly. Although he’s sure Alex will insist that his points are important, Aaron truly doesn’t care about whether a coffee shop has WiFi or not. Instead of listening to the barrage of words that are tumbling out of his mouth at an alarming rate, syllables stumbling and tripping over each other as every word fights to be heard, he chooses to watch Alex's lips form the sounds. Alex has nice lips. It’s not the first time Aaron has noticed - far from it - but the proximity and Alex currently being distracted means that it’s the first time he can properly appreciate how pretty they are.

“Aaron?”

Aaron is startled out of his stupor to see Alex watching him expectantly.

“Yeah?”

“You weren't listening, were you?” Alex accuses.

Dammit. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly.

Thankfully, Alex doesn’t look angry. He rolls his eyes exasperatedly, before leaning in. “Hey, why do _you_ like this place?”

Aaron hadn't expected that question. Actually, Aaron hadn't expected Alex to stop talking long enough to enquire about Aaron's own opinions. He fumbles for a second before gathering himself.

“It's… quiet,” Aaron shrugs. “And it just seems more personal than a Starbucks, you know?”

Alex nods. “Yeah, capitalistic corporations _suck,”_ he says knowingly. There’s a pause, and Aaron most certainly does _not_ take the opportunity to glance at Alex's lips again. “Uh, hey, um, is this a date?”

Aaron freezes. His tongue lies limply in his mouth, useless, as his mind struggles to think something that isn’t 'fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fu-’

“Sorry,” Alex says hurriedly. “I'm guessing that's a no. Fuck, sorry, man, it's just- I don't know, you didn't mention and I didn't want to assume, but then the way you asked-”

The next thing Aaron thinks is 'of course he'd talk too much even in this situation’.

“Alex, it's fine,” he manages to say finally. “It's cool, I was just… caught off guard.”

“So it’s _not_ a date?”

Aaron thinks carefully about his next words. For once, he can’t read Alex at all, which is scary, considering how much of an open book Alex usually is. He’s always been able to tell what Alex is feeling or thinking. It wasn’t difficult, after a while, to recognise his little quirks and signature tells. But now… he’s never seen Alex clam up before, particularly towards Aaron. It hurts, a little.

Aaron, for all intents and purposes, is a practical person. He thinks decisions through, considers his options, and remains carefully neutral until it's possible to tell which approach is best. His greatest asset is his patience. So it’d make sense that, in this situation, he would carefully craft his sentences so that it was impossible to read his own feelings, right up until he could understand whether or not Alex wanted this to be a date. But Alex’s recklessness seems to be contagious and Aaron find himself throwing all caution to the wind.

“Can we talk about this outside?” Aaron asks finally. Alex's rant has drawn attention to them, and several patrons are eavesdropping into their conversation with very little subtlety.

Aaron can't be sure, but it looks a little like Alex is preparing himself for rejection. His face is crestfallen as he nods and gathers his cup and bag, but that could be because he _wanted_ it to be a date and believes he's being rejected, or because he had hoped it _wasn't_ a date and is now trying to figure out how to reject Aaron and thus ruin their friendship. Aaron picks up his own drink, and the two of them leave the toasty warmth of the coffee shop for the bitter chill outside.

Aaron rests a hand on Alex’s elbow to steer him towards the nearest, unoccupied bench, but the touch makes Alex jump. Aaron retracts his hand quickly, but Alex still seems uncomfortable, fidgeting and looking restless even as they sit down, gnawing at his lip as though he's biting back a million comments. Knowing Alex, he probably is.

Aaron takes a deep breath. This should, logically, be the moment where he’s more cautious than ever. Somehow, he can’t bring himself to plan this out. He wants to try Alex’s method for once; it seems to work well enough for him, considering the fact that he hadn’t been sot for talking too much.

“I like you, and I would really like it if this was a date,” Aaron states calmly. He can't quite bring himself to look Alex in the eye and, instead, he drops his gaze to those ink-stained fingers curling around a cup. But when the silence stretches on for too long, he glances up.

Alex looks surprised by Aaron's uncharacteristic lack of caution. His mouth opens and closes silently for a few, terrifying moments, in which Aaron forces himself to, instead of panicking, focus on how he has finally succeeded in making Alexander Hamilton 'talk less’. It isn’t until a strand of hair that was previously tucked behind his ear escapes its confines to fall in his face that he is startled out of his stupor. “You’re serious?” Alex says finally, eyebrows raised disbelievingly. The lock of hair is still framing his face, fluttering slightly in the wind.

“I don’t see why you find that so difficult to believe,” Aaron says, heart thumping in his chest. Alex’s wording earlier had implied that Alex had assumed it was a date, and if he didn’t _want_ a date, why would he have followed Aaron to the coffee shop with the belief that it _could_ be a date? And thus it's highly likely that Alex isn’t opposed to the idea of a date… But then why was Aaron so panicked?

Ah, yes. Because he cares about the man to the point of illogicality. Aaron is cursing all human emotion when Alex speaks again.

“That’s… wow. That’s _not_ what I expected. I… dude, what? Does that mean you _like-_ like me?” Alex looks childishly bright, eyes glinting with anticipation as he squirms where he’s sitting. The man is truly incapable of staying still.  

“Yes,” Aaron says slowly. “I like you.”

Alex’s eyes light up even more, a feat Aaron hadn’t even considered possible. He looks younger than ever. “This is… _ridiculous,_ oh my god, how long have you liked me?” Before Aaron can even think about his answer, Alex  ploughs on, talking twice as fast as before. “I always assumed you lowkey hated me because you're always really distant, and like, I get really paranoid about how valid my relationships are, ya know? And now _you're_ the one who's being insecure? After I've waxed fucking poetic about your stupid eyes every time I got drunk?”

Aaron blinks, unable to speak for a moment. It's more information that he's capable of processing, which is nothing new about his conversations with Alex. He thinks carefully about his next words, with Alex watching him nervously, before finally speaking.

“Kiss me?” he says. It’s the second time he’s thrown himself head-first into something with little planning, he thinks dazedly, but it’s difficult to regret it when Alex’s lips are warm and electric against his own.

* * *

“You did _what?”_

Aaron stifles his smile as best as he can, but it's not an easy task, considering he's still riding the high of _kissing Alexander Hamilton_. James looks so incredulous that it's simultaneously offensive and comedic. His jaw had dropped open ever since Aaron has made his statement, and hasn't closed since. Aaron considers sneaking a picture.

“We went on a date and I kissed him,” Aaron repeats, still struggling to bite back his smile.

James still looks like he's struggling to comprehend. He stares silently for a while, and Aaron closes his eyes, waiting for inevitable outburst.

_“How?”_

“He was talking about his assignment, and then I kinda interrupted and asked him if he wanted to get some coffee-”

 _“You_ asked?”

“Yeah, and we went to that coffeeshop we always go to, and halfway through, he asked me if this was a date, so I said I _wanted_ it to be a date, but-”

“Wait, _you_ said that?”

 _“Yes,_ and he agreed and then we kissed-”

“Who initiated the kiss?” James asks, lips pursed in suspicion. Aaron sighs, partly from the constant interruptions of his story, and partly because he knows what James’ reaction would be. He _could_ lie, but he and James are too close for Aaron to spare him any details of his love life.

“I did,” Aaron replies after a pause that lasted a beat too long.

_“What?”_

“You have such little faith in me,” Aaron says mildly, as he watches James splutter. “It’s hurtful.”

“So,” James says, completely ignoring Aaron’s last statement. Honestly, Aaron expected nothing less. “You’ve suddenly decided to throw away your entire philosophy of waiting until you’re on your deathbed, _now?_ Why?”

Aaron pretends he didn’t hear James’ insult to his approach in life. Keeping his plans close to his chest and waiting to see which way the wind blows _isn’t_ the same as waiting until he’s on his deathbed, dammit, but he’s had a hard time convincing anyone of that, so he tends to ignore any quips made against him. “Well, I was pretty sure Alex wasn’t going to say anything. It felt like if I _didn’t_ speak up then, there wouldn’t be any other opportunity to discuss my… feelings for him.”

“You mean your pathetic schoolboy infatuation?” James confirms. He grins when Aaron shoots him a sharp look. “Hey, I’m not judging. You’ve got your boy, and I’m still trying to figure out whether Thomas is being purposefully dense or genuinely has no idea that I like him.” James hesitates for a moment, gaze shifting from Aaron’s face to the crumbs scattered on the floor next to them. He seems nervous, something that doesn’t happen often in their friendship. “Does this mean you’re not helping me with Thomas anymore? I mean, it’s not like I’ve got much to offer in return.”

Ah, he should’ve known. James is struggling with the idea that friendships don’t always need to be a constantly equal balance. Too often he’s had trouble believing Aaron and Thomas when they say he doesn’t need to pay them back for every little thing. It’s not as much of a problem as it used to be, but every once in a while, James will question why Aaron is sticking around, and Aaron always responds with the same answer.

“Shut up,” Aaron says kindly. James snorts, glancing up with a small grin. “I’m helping you because I want to, Alex or not.”

“Thanks,” James says with a grateful smile, and Aaron places a gentle hand over his in silent acknowledgement and support. They’re not a particularly affectionate pair, but Aaron finds comfort in the small contact.

They don’t finish any of their work that night, and instead, get drunk and lament about how beautiful their respective crushes are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wasnt kidding when i said i crave validation and love. leaving a comment, even if it's just a 'good job' or quoting your favourite line really helps, because it feels like no one is interested in this fic and i really dont wanna dump it when i just started, ya know? 
> 
> [lafayettes-baguette](http://www.lafayettes-baguette.tumblr.com) is my tumblr


	4. The Talk

There's a single text waiting for him, and Aaron gets nervous from the moment he reads it from his notifications. He considers not opening it; there would be no way for Alex to know he read it, since he hadn't technically opened the messaging app.

' _We need to talk.’_

The ambiguity sparks shivers that run down Aaron's spine. It's ominous, and sounds too much like Alex is going to admit to murder or something equally as disastrous to their new relationship. He could even be breaking up with him, before they've had their first date. Maybe Aaron is a shitty kisser, and Alex doesn't want to be chained to someone who has no experience. Maybe Alex realised that he could do better, and wanted to date someone who was more compatible.

He turns off his phone. If Alex asks, he can say it died. James will back him up, and Aaron will be able to postpone the dreaded conversation for just a little longer.

It doesn't stop him from coming up with terrifying scenarios throughout his entire lecture.

“You seem distracted,” James points out later, as they make their way across campus. “Thinking about your boy?”

“Don't call him my boy,” Aaron says automatically. But James is right; Aaron can't stop thinking about Alex. His phone is a heavy weight in his pocket, burning through the denim fabric of his jeans to singe a mark on his thigh, branding him a liar. It weighs him down until walking grows more and more difficult, until each step requires more energy than Aaron can dispense. He feels _so_ guilty, but it's okay to take a break and be a coward, just once in awhile. At least, that's what he tells himself for now.

“Hey,” James says, startling Aaron out of his thoughts. His brow is furrowed in concern, and he stops walking to place the back of his hand gently against Aaron's forehead.

“I'm not ill,” Aaron says quickly, because James has a habit of getting carried away, and would probably force Aaron to stay in bed for at least a week at the merest sign of illness; such was the side-effect of being constantly ill himself. “If anyone asks, my phone is dead, okay?”

This makes James frown even more. “Why?”

It's tempting - _extremely_ tempting - to tell James everything. Aaron isn't the best at handling cooped up feelings, and James already knows more about Aaron than anyone ever has. It would be easy to tell him, but Aaron already has an inkling of what James will advise him, and it's the complete opposite of what Aaron wants to do.

“Is it something about Alex?” James asks.

“Yes,” Aaron says before he can even think about it. Oh well. He might as well tell the full story now. “He sent me a weird text, and I haven't opened it yet but it just says 'we need to talk’. And now I'm freaking out.”

James is silent for a while, gazing thoughtfully at the uneven pavement they're stepping on.

“You already know what I'm going to say, don't you?”

“I do,” Aaron admits. “But I'm too scared to bring it up.”

“You don't know what he wants to talk about,” is James' argument. “He might want to warn you about his terrible habit of collecting bottle caps, or he might want to come out as asexual, or his aunt could have died-”

“He doesn't have any family.”

“Doesn't make my other two points any less valid.”

Aaron sighs. It's not that James is wrong, but Aaron has never been one for taking risks (apart from the whole fiasco with the date and the kiss) and why should he take the risk when he could just avoid the entire situation?

“You can't run away forever,” James says, as though he can hear his thoughts. Aaron considers the possibility of James being a mindreader, and whether he'd be a villain or a hero. Frankly, Aaron can see James as the leader of a villain organisation - no one would ever suspect poor, coughing James Madison to be in charge of all evil operations in the city, and that could probably work in his advantage.

“Just watch me,” Aaron replies, and it isn't until then that he realises that they're going in the wrong direction to their dorm. “Where are we going?”

“Thomas' place. We're having a movie night. He texted everyone, but _obviously,”_ here, James rolls his eyes and his deep voice dips into the endless supply of sarcasm he has constantly has available. “Your phone is dead.”

“Don’t sass me,” Aaron says, with a frown. “Alex isn't going to be there, is he?”

James snorts, but that might be because Aaron tripped over a crack in the pavement, rather than from disbelief. “Since when have Alex and Thomas been best friends?”

* * *

James is a filthy fucking liar, and Aaron is never going to believe him ever again.

“You look like you've seen a ghost,” Angelica says when Aaron stands in the doorway for several long moments, gaze fixed firmly on something behind Angelica's shoulder. Or, more specifically, a certain someone.

James fails to stifle a grin.

“I'm fine,” Aaron manages to say finally, swallowing heavily. His stomach is twisting with dread and he vaguely feels like he's going to be sick. Angelica is still peering at him concernedly, and he's starting to draw the attention of the other occupants of the room, which is the exact opposite of what he wants. “Um, actually, not fine, I don't feel too great, I think I’m gonna go home-”

“You'll be fine,” James says, and he firmly takes Aaron by the arm and steers him into the room. Aaron considers fighting against his hold, but James is _big_ (no matter how little his personality seems sometimes) and Aaron isn't exactly known to be the BFG of the group. Instead, he lets himself be led to his death, and just hopes it's swift and painless.

“Aaron!”

Aaron takes a grounding breath before turning to Alex, who's grinning brightly. Despite his impending doom, he can't help but smile at the sight. Alex's hair is bundled into a messy bun at the top of his head, and several strands have fallen from their confines to hang enticingly around his face. His worn hoodie is too big for him, making him seem small and almost delicate. Aaron wants to cuddle him.

“Hey,” he says gently, raising his hands without thinking. The action makes Alex pause, but before Aaron can panic and over-analyse, he's bounding over to throw himself into Aaron's arms and bury his face into the crook of his neck. Aaron's hands flail uselessly for a second - he didn't think this far - before resting on his waist. Alex's nose is tickling him slightly, and the small huffs of breath aren't helping, but there isn't anywhere Aaron would rather be in that moment.

“Break it up, lovebirds,” a voice hollers gleefully from the other side of the room. John Laurens. Aaron doesn't feel quite as vindictive as he usually does towards the freckled man.

Alex pulls away, and his hands come up to frame Aaron's face, his palms warm and soft against Aaron's cheeks as he stares into Aaron’s eyes. It feels extremely intimate for a relationship that has only, so far, consisted of a coffee date. Aaron should have known that Alex's trademark intensity would transfer over into his relationships too. He thinks he likes it.

“Did you see my text?”

Aaron is tempted to lie, to use the excuse he built for himself, but the words get stuck in his throat as he finds himself mesmerised by Alex's eyes. He's so captured by the beauty that it takes him a moment to reply, and when he does, he finds the truth spilling past his lips rather than a carefully-crafted, vague not-lie.

“I saw it,” he admits. “But I was too busy freaking out to reply. I thought… maybe, you wanted to say that it was all a mistake…”

He feels slightly stupid after admitting it out loud to someone who _isn't_ James, and it doesn't help that Alex looks incredulous.

“No, no, nothing like that,” but Alex still looks uneasy, his eyes shifting away from Aaron's face. “Um, so, I'm hoping this won't be an issue, and it shouldn't affect our relationship, or your friendship, but I think James likes me, in a non-platonic way-”

_“What?”_

“But I _really_ don't want this to be a problem-”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Aaron interrupts, not entirely sure whether his ears are in proper working order. Perhaps his brain is having difficulty converting the vibrations into English, because he could have _sworn_ he heard Alex say that James had a crush on him. “You think James likes you?”

“He keeps asking me weird questions,” Alex frowns, and he looks genuinely upset, fidgeting with the frayed sleeves of his hoodie. “And I was pretending I didn't notice, but it was all… ya know, _date_ stuff, and I don't think he noticed that I could tell that something was up.” He looks up at Aaron so hopefully that his heart wrenches. “You know I don't like him like I like you.”

It's becoming increasingly difficult to bite back his grin. “Alex, he doesn't like you. _I_ do.”

Alex just looks confused. “The two aren't mutually exclusive.”

“No, no, I mean, he wasn't asking for himself, he was asking for _me.”_ Comprehension begins to dawn on Alex's face, but Aaron presses on. “I asked him to ask you those questions, because _I_ wanted to know. And, in return, I asked the same questions to Thomas, and told him the answers. But I guess it wasn't that great a plan, considering we completely underestimated your astuteness.”

“James has a crush on Thomas?” Alex says, eyes shining with glee as he leans forward. “Seriously? I had no idea!”

Aaron blinks. As a result of Thomas’ inability to not be constantly in the spotlight, as well as his insistence on dragging his friend with him, the entirety of campus knows about James’ crush. Strangers who had never spoken to either of them were fully aware of James’ pining. One of the janitors regularly smirks whenever he sees the two together. There is literally no one who isn’t somewhat aware of their relationship. At least, Aaron had _thought_ there was no one.

“I take back my comment on your astuteness,” Aaron says flatly instead of pointing any of this out. “But the point is, James doesn’t like you - no offence - and that shouldn’t affect anything.”

Alex nods, but he’s already distracted as he peers over Aaron’s shoulder to smirk at a bemused James.

“Please don’t bother him about this,” Aaron says, and usually his words would be accompanied with a sigh, but he finds himself smiling fondly. The last thing he needs is Alex provoking James and accidentally knocking down his confidence. James’ self-esteem had never been rocketing sky-high, particularly where Thomas was considered, and the smallest comment would send him scrambling back into his shell. Aaron didn’t expend time and energy into finding out Thomas’ preferences just so James could freak out and never ask him out. “Not to be rude, but you’re probably the last person he wants to discuss this with.”

Alex pouts but, thankfully, doesn’t argue. “You haven’t kissed me since yesterday,” he points out instead.

“I haven’t even _seen_ you since yesterday,” is Aaron’s bemused reply.

“Well, you’re seeing me now,” Alex says with a smirk, stepping forward until they’re mere inches apart. His breath tickles Aaron’s cheek, eyes crinkled and glinting with mischief. “And you’re still not kissing me.”

Aaron knows how to take a hint. One hand goes to rest lightly on Alex’s waist as he closes the distance, revelling in the softness of Alex’s lips again. He had thought, maybe, that their first kiss would have been the most lovely, that it was the adrenaline of knowing that Alex was interested and, after that, the magic would wear off. But his heart is thumping in his chest just as it was yesterday, and he feels just as giddy. Alex is warm and soft and citrus-smelling, pressed flush against his chest and now wrapping his arms around Aaron’s waist. Aaron distantly thinks he must have been a saint in his previous life to deserve this, before all thought processes are jammed to a halt.

Alex’s hand comes up to Aaron’s head, and it’s obvious that he had moved automatically to grip Aaron’s hair before realising his mistake. Aaron laughs slightly against Alex’s lips - a sound quickly swallowed by another kiss -  and tugs on the end of Alex’s ponytail, in an attempt to tease him for his mistake.

Several things happen in a blur within the next few moments. Alex bites down on Aaron’s bottom lip, and whilst it wasn’t particularly hard, it surprises Aaron into tugging on Alex’s hair harder than he had been meaning to. Alex’s head snaps back, but before Aaron can apologise, Alex moans lowly. Aaron freezes, and his mind is already racing with the knowledge that Alex _likes having his hair pulled,_ and the imagery that comes with that piece of information isn’t innocent. He's not sure whether Alex does it as retaliation or to get his attention, but his hand drops to Aaron's ass without warning and squeezes.

No matter what the others claim later on, Aaron does _not_ squeak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back with a chapter that's trashier than ever. i'm so sorry about the ending being so choppy, i actually wrote the entire fic so far in one go and i'm kinda guessing where to end chapters as i go along
> 
> tumblr is [lafayettes-baguette](http://www.lafayettes-baguette.tumblr.com)


	5. The Pineapple Pizza Discourse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when will i write a fic without slipping in pineapple pizza discourse in

“You okay?” Alex asks, still standing unfairly close to Aaron. How is he supposed to concentrate on forming _words_ when he can smell Alex's citrusy shampoo? All he wants to do, frankly, is lean forward, bury his face in the crook of Alex's neck and breathe him in. He doesn't, because he has to retain  _some_ form of dignity. It's literally all he has left in life.

“You’re blushing,” Aaron says finally instead of answering Alex’s question.

Alex’s cheeks darken further, a dusty pink smattering across his cheeks, but his grin is shameless. His hand comes up to rest on Aaron’s cheek, and it’s only then that Aaron realises his cheeks are hotter than the face of the sun.

“So are you,” Alex teases.

An object flies past them, whizzing past Aaron's ear and missing him by mere inches. They both turn to see a book lying on the floor, pages crumpled.

“Get a room,” Laurens says loudly, but his grin is mirthful. Behind him, James is watching them with a smile, and Angelica's eyebrows will end up somewhere in heaven if they rise any further. Perhaps Aaron should feel self-conscious about them all watching him - and he would, in any other situation - but Alex's arm is warm around his waist and Aaron regrets nothing. Why should he be ashamed of having a gorgeous boyfriend? Aaron isn't one to show off, but he thinks he'll make an exception in this situation, especially when Laurens is concerned.

“Don’t mind if we do,” Alex smirks, just as Aaron mumbles a quick 'sorry'.

“I didn't know you two were together,” Angelica says thoughtfully. “Does this mean Alex will stop waxing poetic about how your voice is actually liquid smoke?”

 _“Angie,”_ Alex groans, hands finally moving from Aaron's waist to cover his face in embarrassment. Aaron can't help but get annoyed at himself for missing the warmth. Clingy much? “You can't tell him that when we've only been dating for a day.”

But Angelica just scoffs and sprawls herself on the couch, attention diverted to her phone. Laurens disappears into the kitchen, and James shoots Aaron a secret smile before being decent enough to give them some privacy.

“Liquid smoke?” Aaron asks Alex, lips curling up against his will. It's nice to know he's not the only one who's managed to embarrass themself epically in front of their friends. He's just glad that James is too terrified of the consequences to ever tell people all the embarrassing things Aaron has said. For now, he can enjoy the warm feeling in his stomach as Alex drops his head to Aaron's shoulder and groans lowly, and that citrus scent blesses Aaron’s nostrils again.

“You two are looking awfully chummy today,” a Southern voice drawls behind them, and Aaron suppresses a sigh. He had known this confrontation was coming, but had foolishly thought that Thomas would at least wait until a more appropriate time.

Of course, Alex can't resist rising to the bait. He tenses, before pulling away to glare at Thomas. “You got a problem with that?” he retorts, and those sweet, sweet lips curl into a not-so-sweet scowl.

Thomas' laugh is disdainful. “You overestimate how much I care.”

“Can we not do this?” Aaron says tiredly, rubbing a hand over his face. Thomas opens his mouth, clearly intent on ignoring Aaron, but James appears out of nowhere to rest a hand on Thomas' arm, making the taller man fall silent.

“There’s something I should probably tell you about Thomas,” Alex mutters, but the proximity is too close and Alex's lips are brushing the shell of his ear, making it impossible to concentrate on what he's saying.

“Okay,” he says after a pause that lasted a beat too long. He clears his throat before turning to address the others in the room. “Shall I order the pizza?”

“Pepperoni and pineapple,” Alex says immediately.

Thomas fake-gags, because James can only keep him in line for so long. Alex shoots him an annoyed look. “I should’ve known you’d be a pineapple pizza lover,” Thomas says with a contemptuous sneer. “Disloyal bastard _and_ a heathen, what a surprise!”

“Laf will pull a hissy fit if there’s no pineapple, for your information,” Alex snaps. “Excuse me for accepting my friends despite their differences, and actually _doing_ something for them. Clearly, that’s a foreign concept to you, since they don’t teach that to over-privileged kids with a silver spoon up their asses.” Even Thomas looks slightly taken-back by Alex’s viciousness, and Aaron doesn’t blame him. He puts a hand on Alex’s shoulder in a silent warning, but Alex isn’t done. “I’d ask how you even managed to make friends, but we all know they’re just in it for your money.”

Thomas’ face goes scarily blank, and Aaron recognises that expression right away. Thomas and Alex might enjoy arguing over the most trivial topics, but their attacks had always carefully been aimed at their beliefs rather than their actual characteristics. There was a fifty-fifty chance that whatever they were arguing about was either politics or something so insignificant that onlookers were amazed that they had even managed to find points to argue at all. This was because, contrary to popular belief, Thomas and Alex didn’t truly hate each other. Alex’s words were a low blow, and it was evident that he knew he had truly hurt Thomas by the guilty grimace that twisted his lips.“Laf is a fucking heathen,” Angelica mutters from the couch without looking up from her phone.

Thomas turns around and, without another word, walks out of the room.

“That was mean,” Aaron tells Alex, brow knitted in concern. He wants to comfort Thomas, but he knows that he would probably only make matters worse, especially since Thomas is convinced that any sign of being upset is a sign of weakness and would probably push Aaron away. There’s only one person who can talk to Thomas when he was like this, and it isn’t Aaron.

“I should apologise, shouldn’t I?” Alex says, absent-mindedly fiddling with the hem of his sleeve as he frowns at the door. It's strange to see him genuinely remorseful after an argument, but Aaron is glad he isn't completely cold-hearted. He knows Alex has a habit of being stubborn and refusing to admit he had been wrong, and sometimes that extends to refusing to apologise for something he believes isn't his fault, even if it is.

“Let him be for a while,” Aaron advises. “I'll get James to talk to him.”

Alex nods, still looking distracted as he gazes off into the distance. Aaron hesitates before taking the opportunity to peck a chaste kiss on Alex's cheek, face burning as he disappears before Alex can comment on it. It feels too intimate and too innocent simultaneously, and he can already hear Alex teasing him about it.

He makes a beeline to James, who is perched on the edge of the couch, staring anxiously at the door Thomas had left through. His brow was furrowed, and he was clearly torn between giving Thomas space and comforting him. Aaron sat next to him, nudging the man lightly when he didn’t turn to look at him.

“You should talk to him,” he said lowly. James shook his head, silent, but he continued to stare at the door. “You _should._ You know he’s going to start over-thinking and doubting himself, he needs someone to reassure him. And out of everyone in the room, hell, in this entire _campus,_ you’re the person he’s most comfortable with.”

“What if he needs to wind down, _without_ me getting all up in his face?” James asked, and his face had arranged itself into something more sorrowful. “I don’t want to be the one that makes him feel worse.”

“Then he’ll tell you,” Aaron said, voice firm and leaving no space for arguments. It wasn’t often he implements such assertiveness to his tone - keeping his voice light and neutral suits him much better - but desperate times call for desperate measures. “You and I both know Thomas has no problem voicing something that's annoying him.”

There was a pause, before James nods. “You're right,” he says, and walks away from Aaron without so much as a glance or a 'thank you'. Some best friend. He watches him walk away, mind whirring with 'maybe’s and 'what if's. When had Aaron become so invested in James' love life?

“Oi,” a voice calls, and Aaron snaps out his daze as Angelica jabs him with her toe. “I thought you said you were ordering the pizza?”

Shit. “Oh, yeah, I am.” Aaron had completely forgotten. He pulls his phone out his pocket, fumbling slightly as he tries to find the number of that one pizza place Hercules had ordered from last time.

“And it looks like your boyfriend wants attention,” Angelica adds, smirking. She nods her head towards Alex, who’s sneaking glances at Aaron in the middle of his conversation with Laurens. Aaron watches him for a moment, waiting to see how long Alex will last without looking over again. He counts six seconds, before Alex turns again. Ignoring Angelica snort, Aaron smiles. It’s nice, to be someone’s number-one, rather than sticking with second-best. Alex's face lights up at the sight of Aaron’s small smile, and that's the only indication he needs to walk towards him, making Laurens roll his eyes exasperatedly.

“Is James going to talk to Thomas?” Alex asks, shoving Angelica's feet out of the way so that he can sit next to Aaron and curl against his side. He gets a swift kick for his troubles, but Angelica seems too amused to punish him much more.

“Yeah. They'll be fine,” Aaron replies, dialling the number of the pizza place. “And hopefully, they'll kiss while they're at it.”

“Oh, that's the thing I wanted to tell you,” Alex says excitedly, squirming in his seat. He looks like a child who has been promised candy, and that _shouldn't_ be endearing but it is. “Did you know Thomas has a _huge_ crush on James?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the 'liquid smoke' part is actually a reference to The Balance Shifts EP, and the Events Preceding and Following its Release by theother51 which can be found here [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7793986%0A)
> 
> but!! i'm sorry for not updating in ages. i couldnt muster even a pathetic dredge of motivation until an anon sent a lovely ask, god bless, this is for you
> 
> my tumblr is now [hhhercules-mulligan](http://www.hhhercules-mulligan.tumblr.com)!!!!


	6. The Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOW DO I END CHAPTERS WHEN I'VE WRITTEN THIS FIC AS A CONTINUOUS LOOP

_ “What?” _

But before Aaron can press Alex for more information, the man on the line is asking for his order. He rattles off the pizza toppings, praying that none of them have allergies. Ordering food for such a large group of people is far more difficult than Aaron could have ever anticipated. He has no idea what allergies to watch out for, Angelica and John get into a vicious argument about how many servings of fries they should buy, Alex is whispering 'cheese dough balls, Aaron, we gotta get cheese dough balls, they have the  _ best  _ cheese dough balls’ in his ear, his breath tickling Aaron's cheek and distracting him further. He can hear the annoyance slowly building up in the man's voice, as Aaron tries to confirm whether John wants a vanilla milkshake or if he changed his mind again for the billionth time.

“Three chocolate milkshakes, one strawberry-”

“Herc's gonna want a strawberry milkshake.”

“Sorry,  _ two  _ strawberry milkshakes, four vanilla-”

“Wait, I don't think I want a vanilla milkshake!”

“For god's sake, John!”

“Vanilla milkshakes suck-”

“Your sex life is vanilla, and it sucks too-”

“Did you order cheese dough balls?”

_ “Yes,  _ Alex, I already ordered them-”

“-get more fries? More people might be coming-”

“Did you order garlic bread?”

“What the  _ fuck-” _

“-more cheese dough balls-”

“-and three pieces of garlic bread, that's all, thank you,” Aaron finishes firmly, shooting a look at Laurens when he opens his mouth, presumably to make a disparaging comment about garlic bread. Much to Aaron's surprise, Laurens closes his mouth again sheepishly.

“There's already loads of ice cream in the freezer, why did we even buy it?” Angelica says to Laurens who, at some point, had moved to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch. She manoeuvred one leg so she could kick Laurens' shoulder, but his only response was a pathetic whine and a glare.

“Because I want Ben and Jerry’s, not Thomas’ stupidly expensive ice-cream that finishes in one bite.” 

“You  _ bite  _ ice-cream?” 

Aaron finishes thanking the man on the line before turning to the other three. “You guys are ridiculous. I'm never ordering food for you again.”

“You think that's bad?” Alex snorts, planting his face in Aaron’s shoulder. His voice comes out muffled when he speaks again. “You should see what happens when  _ everyone’s  _ here.” 

Aaron has to repress a shudder. Just handling Alex, Angelica and Laurens’ order was too much, he didn’t think he’d survive adding the rest of the crew. 

Before he can respond to Alex’s comment, the door opens again and James and Thomas enter, the latter staring resolutely at the floor. Alex pulls away from Aaron to stare at Thomas, but the man refuses to make eye-contact as he settles on the floor next to Laurens. It’s somewhat bizarre to see the two sitting next to each other without arguing - Laurens hates Thomas almost as much as Alex does - but Thomas is clearly in no mood for confrontation, and Laurens seems to understand that, as he awkwardly pulls out his phone without commenting on the seating arrangement. James shoots Aaron a worried look, before pulling out his own phone and beginning to type.

 

**From James:**

_ how do you explain to the most perfect man alive that he shouldn’t have self-esteem issues?? _

 

**To James:**

_ ‘Most perfect man alive’ is probably subjective _

 

**From James:**

_ that's what you focus on?? _

 

“Watcha doing?” Alex murmurs sleepily. Aaron looks at him, suddenly hyper-aware of the warmth from where their sides are pressed together. Several strands of hair have fallen from Alex's now-messy ponytail, and his eyes are half-closed. His mouth has fallen open, and Aaron's attention is brought to those soft, pink lips. He swallows, and drags his gaze away. 

“Just texting James,” he says, reaching out to tuck the wayward lock of hair behind Alex's ear. It's surreal, knowing how long he had yearned for that small action, and now being able to do it as often as he likes. “Hey, don't fall asleep.”

“Who's asleep? I'm not asleep,” Alex says immediately, but his face is slack and his breathing has slowed. “I've never been more awake.”

Aaron's smile is fond. “Really? So if I moved away right now, you'd stay upright?”

“Definitely,” Alex mumbles, but his arm wraps itself around Aaron's waist, keeping him still. “Just take my word for it.”

“Let him sleep,” Laurens says, eyes still trained on his phone. “His sleeping schedule has more been even crazier than usual.”

Aaron wants to bristle at Laurens telling him what to do, but it's difficult to hate the man when the only reason for his animosity used to be jealousy. And now that Alex is curled up against Aaron's side, he can't find it in him to harbour any hard feelings. Sure, the guy is loud, but as long as they aren't in constant proximity with each other and Aaron's stash of Tylenol is stocked up, Aaron is willing to play nice. 

Fifteen minutes later, Hercules, Eliza, Peggy and Teddy had arrived, and some superhero movie is playing. Aaron isn't the biggest fan of action movies, so apart from Peggy's sarcastic commentary, there's nothing much to hold his attention. Alex, despite his protestations otherwise, had fallen asleep against Aaron, exhaling in soft little huffs of breath that tickle Aaron's collarbone. On his other side, Teddy keeps shooting him smug grins. 

“He’s cute when he's asleep, huh?” Teddy whispers. Aaron shoots her a look. He knows what's going to happen next; she'll goad him into saying sappy, something so cheesy that he’ll cringe the moment the words leave his mouth, and then tease him for the rest of his miserable existence. He's been friends with her long enough to know her tricks. 

“I guess,” he replies, keeping his voice carefully light and choosing to stare blankly at the television screen instead of meeting her gaze. 

“He's adorable,” she corrects, nudging him. Her elbow is sharp when it comes in contact with his side, and his flinch makes Alex stir. They both go silent, watching his chest rise and fall with his breath, eyes fluttering. It’s calming, almost hypnotising, and perhaps it’s because he’s so used to seeing Alex constantly in motion, perhaps that’s why he’s so fascinated by seeing the man slow down for once. It’s strange. Alex looks… well, not  _ cute,  _ per se, because Aaron has to draw a line  _ somewhere  _ retain his dignity, but he looks...

“Gorgeous,” Aaron breathes. He doesn’t realise his mistake until Teddy snorts, loud and disdainful. Dammit. He should have known that she would trick him into slipping up somewhere. Though, if he was honest, it was mostly his fault, for not being able to control his raging infatuation long enough to think about what he’s saying.

“Gorgeous, is he?” Teddy teases. On the screen, a building blows up in possibly the cringiest CGI moment in history. Aaron focuses his attention on that, instead of looking at Teddy, or worse, Alex. 

“Leave me alone,” Aaron grumbles. “Or you’re not getting any of the food.” 

No sooner than when the words leave his lips, Peggy leaps to her feet, excited. Aaron and Teddy watch her bound toward the door, completely baffled by her enthusiasm and the fact that literally no one else has paid her any attention. They exchange a look, and by the time they’d properly communicated their confusion, Peggy is back, this time was a bag and a triumphant grin.

“Food’s here!” she calls, and apparently they had missed the sound of someone knocking on the door, thanks to an inconveniently timed explosion on the television. John glances up for a second before his attention is drawn back to the movie, and Thomas and James remain seated, but everyone else scrambles to their feet, each talking over each other. Teddy abandons him, and Aaron is left on the couch alone, Alex still asleep against his shoulder. He takes the opportunity to stare, to fully take in the rugged and careless beauty of Alex’s face, the plump lips and dark eye-bags and creased brow and long lashes. He doesn’t want to wake Alex - god knows the man needs all the sleep he can get - but he gets the feeling that Alex will pull a hissy fit if someone eats his cheese dough balls.

He stays there for a moment, hand outstretched and hesitating between letting Alex sleep and waking him to ensure the safety of his damn cheese dough balls. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to make the decision, because the commotion leads to Alex blinking blearily against the artificial light of the room, looking unfairly adorably confused.

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Alex slurred, sitting up and wiping drool from his cheek. Aaron should find that gross. He  _ wants  _ to find that gross. Why isn’t he grossed out by Alex’s drooling? If this is one of the effects of dating someone, then he wants nothing to do with it. 

(He still can’t believe he’s  _ dating  _ Alex. How did his life get to this?)

“The food’s here,” Aaron tells him gently, in a futile attempt to let Alex wake up slowly. It doesn’t work, because the moment Alex hears the word ‘food’, his eyes snap wide open and he’s grabbing Aaron’s hand, dragging him halfway across the room where everyone is fighting over their orders. 

“I swear to god, if any of you touch my cheese dough balls, I’m gonna slit your throats,” Alex declares loudly, pushing people out of the way and leaving Aaron stumbling behind him. 

“No one likes cheese dough balls but you,” Aaron reminds him patiently, helping move the food to the centre of the living room. His comment earns him an affronted look from Alex and a snort from Peggy, who even offers a high-five as she passes by. He has  _ never  _ been offered a high-five by Peggy, who has made a point of avoiding him as much as possible. In fact, the only people in the room he’s ever been particularly close to is James and Angelica, and possibly Thomas. When he had admitted that he wanted to date Alex, he hadn’t been expecting to be thrown head-first into a group of people he’d always been vaguely acquaintances with. Aaron had never had a group of friends, his only confidant had been James, and he thinks he likes the idea of having a group of people that are willing to hang out. He likes being alone sometimes, but spending every Friday evening at home as Thomas and James go out gets boring pretty quickly. 

Finally, they’re seated in a circle - or something that vaguely resembles it - with the food splayed out in the middle. There are several servings of cheese dough balls in front of Alex, who has refused to eat anything else (Aaron makes a mental note to add that to the mindmap), but everyone else is alternating between slices of pizza and burgers. The movie is abandoned by all but Laurens, who carefully positioned himself so that he had full view of the screen.

Aaron’s phone pings. He debates between ignoring it and checking it quickly, but everyone who could possibly text him is sitting in the same room as him, and eventually, curiousity wins out. He fishes out his phone from his pocket. 

 

**From James:**

_ i need to talk to you _

_ it’s serious _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hate ordering for more than two people and i also love cheese dough balls
> 
> this is my second favourite chapter in the entire fic (i havent added my fave chapter yet) but its also very hamburr centric, so the next chapter is......... slightly more jeffmads. slightly.
> 
> ALSO i updated je m'appelle lafayette finally, [read it here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5475218/chapters/18915467)
> 
> tumblr is now [hhhercules-mulligan](http://www.hhhercules-mulligan.tumblr.com)


	7. The Leprechaun Dicksucker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for cat-against-catcalls on tumblr, who was really sweet and motivated me to write this chapter :)))

James doesn't explain what is so urgent that he had to shoot a text instead of waiting until they're alone. At least, not immediately. When Aaron looks up, James is steadfastly avoiding his eye as he engages in conversation with Thomas, who, although still withdrawn, seems slightly better. He vows to ask on their way back to their dorm.

Laurens, who  _ still  _ hasn’t decided between vanilla or strawberry, is sipping a bit of everyone’s milkshake. So far, none of them have confronted him about it and the only person in his vicinity that  _ hasn’t  _ had their milkshake stolen is Thomas, who shoots him a withering glare when Laurens dares to look at it. Aaron is prepared for conflict, and he sees James tense too, but Laurens must be remembering the incident from earlier because he lets it pass without comment.

“I can’t believe you like banana milkshake,” Laurens grumbles instead to Eliza. “Banana milkshakes are for people who have given up on life.”

Eliza raises a perfectly-shaped eyebrow, amused. “And who says I haven’t?” she teases. “Besides, if you’re so offended by milkshake choices, why don’t you just give it back?” 

That shuts Laurens up, but he still looks disgruntled as he slurps her milkshake and shoves it back in her hand. James is the next victim of the milkshake thief, and the poor man looks utterly bewildered as his chocolate milkshake is snatched out of his hand.

“He looks like he’s sucking on a leprechaun’s dick,” Alex whispers in Aaron’s ear, and suddenly Aaron’s choking on his Sprite, both from the proximity and the comment. He glances up, but finds he can’t handle seeing Laurens suck through a straw without struggling to contain his laughter. It's childish, but he's suddenly cataloguing all the similarities between dick-sucking and straw-drinking. He finds that it's extremely difficult to look at John's hollowed cheeks any longer.

“I didn’t need that imagery, thanks,” Aaron mutters back. His eyes are watering with the effort of holding back his laughter, and Hercules is shooting him a strange look across the circle. Alex grins, unapologetic, but when Aaron tries to glare at him, he wraps his own lips around the straw perched in his Coke and sucks lewdly. 

It’s the last straw, so to speak, for Aaron, who doubles over and begins to laugh. The tears he had been working so hard to blink back are now streaming down his face, and he’s only vaguely aware of the others’ stares as he struggles to breath. His eyes are screwed shut, safe from the stares of the others, as each inhale rasps unattractively in his throat.

He doesn’t think he’ll be able to look at Laurens ever again after  _ that  _ remark. It’s worth it, he thinks, as he wipes the tears from his face and clutches his now-aching stomach.

“You alright?” Eliza asks, looking somewhat concerned. Aaron doesn’t blame her; he’d be slightly worried too if an acquaintance he'd never seen smile properly before was suddenly clutching his stomach with laughter. He takes a moment to breathe and recollect himself, before answering her question.

“I'm fine, sorry,” he manages to say finally. He feels a little embarrassed now, with all their curious eyes following his every move, but he refuses to let it down his mood. This is the happiest he's been, and he refuses to let self-consciousness ruin it. He's still grinning brightly.

“You’re actually kind of cute when you’re laughing, you know,” Angelica says thoughtfully. The statement makes Aaron pause, and he exchanges a bemused look with James across the circle, smile sliding off his face in seconds. He had once made the mistake of flirting with Angelica, and she had rebuffed him so hard that the mere memory of the interaction is enough to make Aaron wince now. She had made it very clear that she thought he was a ‘disgusting excuse for a human being’ and, although she had apologised the next day and blamed her harshness on a long, difficult day, he had taken the hint and accepted that he was simply not attractive to her.

“He’s kind of cute even when he’s not laughing,” Peggy adds, words garbled by the horrifying number of fries she’s managed to stuff into her mouth. Aaron can’t look at her without grimacing.

“He’s not ‘kind of cute’, he’s  _ extremely  _ cute,” Alex corrects haughtily, making the others roll their eyes. “And he’s also taken, so back off.”

“No, but seriously,” Hercules says thoughtfully. “I’ve never noticed it before, but Aaron’s  _ really  _ attractive.”  

Everyone stops to stare at him, and Thomas even puts down his burger to squint at him. Aaron looks at Alex for help, but he’s staring too, eyes wide with equal parts awe and affection. He doesn’t seem as surprised as the others - which is  _ rude  _ of them, actually - but it’s obvious that he’s not getting any help from him.He turns to James, but even he looks contemplative, brows furrowed as though he’s seeing Aaron for the first time.

“I would kill for my skin to be that smooth,” Eliza notes. Her gaze is the least scrutinizing of them all, and she sends him a sympathetic smile when he looks at her, as though she can sense his discomfort.

“And his smile is really nice when it’s genuine,” James adds. The traitor. Aaron is never helping him ever again.

“He could easily be a model,” Thomas interjects. It’s the first thing he’s said in a while, and although everyone shoots him a glance, no one comments on his suspicious silence.

Even  _ Laurens  _ joins in. “His face is very symmetrical and I heard that makes people more attractive,” he adds helpfully, before promptly looking disgusted with himself and shoving a piece of garlic bread in his mouth. That’s possibly the most baffling part of the entire exchange, since Laurens was, just moments ago, making disparaging remarks about how garlic bread was the ultimate sign of deviation from the path of the Lord.

“You guys would be amazed by how uncomfortable I am right now,” Aaron says mildly, trying not to fidget under their gaze. They don’t relent, completely ignoring him in favour of watching his every movement, and his only comfort is the way Alex is now tracing shapes on his thigh. He feels the occasional scrape of too-long nails through the soft material of his sweatpants, and he looks down. Alex has nice hands. Smooth, soft, surprisingly big in proportion to the rest of him. His nails are long, and Aaron knows that Alex prefers them that way. The few times he had cut them short, he made a habit of complaining to anyone who so much as looked his way, regardless of whether or not they were interested. Aaron would never admit it, but Alex's rants had always made his day, ad although he had rolled his eyes and looked unimpressed, listening to Alex’s furious speech about nails had been the highlight of his day.

When he finally looks up, Alex’s face is much closer than before, and he’s smiling softly. Despite knowing that everyone is watching, Aaron can’t resist a quick kiss at the sight of those soft lips curving up.

“Gross, guys, we’re trying to eat,” Peggy says loudly, but she’s grinning at them almost maniacally. 

Aaron ignores her and leans in for another kiss. 

Later, as they all file out of Thomas’ house with full stomachs, Alex insists on walking Aaron and James to their dorm, much to James’ exasperation. Aaron definitely wasn’t going to complain, especially not when Alex links their fingers together with a bright smile. He wants to feel bad about shooting lovesick glances at Alex every five seconds, but it’s difficult to when Alex is returning them, lips turned upwards and eyes dancing.

Next to them, James rolls his eyes and walks ahead. Aaron reminds himself to thank James later.

“Do you think today counted as a date?” Alex asks, sounding thoughtful. Aaron looks down at their feet, moving in unconscious tandem with one another and hitting the concrete slabs at the same time. There’s probably some sort of analogy or poetry he could use that for. But then again, there’s nothing more poetic than holding hands and walking together under the dark slab of midnight sky and the soft glow of the streetlamps. “Since, technically, we were eating in. Together.” 

“I don’t know,” Aaron responds honestly. “I think the fact that so many people were there kind of... nullifies it.” 

Alex nods sagely. “Yeah, nothing ruins the mood like having six or seven friends hanging out with you too. I mean, exhibitionism is great and all for those who are actually into it, but I’m afraid I’m not one.”

And although Aaron’s cheeks burn at the casual sex joke, he laughs. It’s ridiculous, the joke isn’t even  _ funny  _ and if anyone else had said it, he would have dismissed it as crude and immature, but there’s something about Alex that makes Aaron fall in love with all the qualities he used to hate. He doesn’t think he’s laughed so much since… well, ever. At this rate, he should develop a six-pack just from the strain on his stomach from hanging out with Alex and his friends.

Alex shoots him a pleased smile, clearly proud of himself for making Aaron laugh. His hand shifts slightly, and Aaron thinks he’s going to pull away, but instead he repositions their hands so that he can stroke Aaron’s knuckles with his thumb. The disappointment that had been welling up in Aaron’s chest immediately blossoms into something warmer, something soft that makes him duck his head and smile. It feels strangely intimate for hand-holding, probably because Alex is still staring at him with a soft expression. Aaron takes a moment to thank any and all deity for James’ foreshadowing and tactfulness.

“You should start getting back,” Aaron tells him as they near the dorm. He wants to ask him to stay, to hold his hand and kiss his cheek, lead him inside, and stay up all night watching Disney classics and horror films and kids’ cartoons, and maybe a few other non-savoury activities. But he knows, logically, that he has to be up early, and  _ he’s  _ supposed to be the responsible one in this relationship, dammit. 

“I should,” Alex says, but he continues walking him up until the door. There’s a little lamp that switches on when it senses movement, and now it bathes them in a soft, butter-yellow glow. The two of them stand under it silently, smiling at each other and saying nothing. Before they had started dating, Alex would have taken this opportunity to start talking about some essay or other, but he’s silent now, almost as though he is waiting. Alex’s eyes are more beautiful than they have any right to be, even under the dim lighting, and oh so close. There are only inches between them, and Aaron is the one who closes the distance, pressing their lips together softly. Alex’s hands come up to frame Aaron’s face, and his thumbs swipe over his cheeks as he kisses him again, and again, and again. 

There is a knock at the door, and Aaron pulls away to see James watching them with an exasperated frown on the other side of the door. 

“I should get going,” Aaron tells Alex apologetically, brushing away a wayward strand of hair before pressing a kiss on Alex’s forehead. 

“You should,” Alex says simply, still smiling. “See you tomorrow?” 

Aaron nods, and then Alex is disappearing into the night again. 


	8. The Recording

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhh i havent updated this in ages. i ditched it in favour of jml, because i wanted to finish it in nanowrimo, but i've decided that i'm gonna split the nanowrimo word count between this, je m'appelle lafayette and someone looking pretty (and possibly more burrcules drabbles)

He opens the door, gaze determinedly fixed on the stairs from the moment his hand touches the handle, as he tries to ignore James, though it’s a difficult task. James might had effectively kept up the annoyed facade whilst Alex was there, but Aaron knows it’s just that: a facade. Now, his arms are crossed in a weak attempt at looking irritated, but his grin is a just a tad too excited for his little act to be effective. James may pretend that he is above searching for gossip, but Aaron knows better. He can tell when James is fishing for details, and now is one of those times. He has that expectant look on his face, as though he’s already convinced that Aaron will share every detail the moment he opnes his mouth. Aaron resolves to keep silent; after the little fiasco that James had encouraged when they were eating earlier, the least the man can do is work to earn his inside information. 

They climb the stairs in silence. Aaron can see James shooting him glances out of the corner of his eyes, but the other man doesn’t say anything until they reach the door of their apartment. 

“So,” James says as Aaron fumbles with his key. 

“Yes?” Aaron replies calmly. He refuses to make this easy for James.

“What do you mean, ‘yes’?” James splutters, looking affronted. “How’s it going with Alex? You can’t just withhold this information from me.” 

“Hm,” is Aaron’s only answer, and he relishes in how offended James looks. It’s the least he deserves, frankly. He removes his jacket and drapes it over a chair, before beginning to take off his t-shirt. “What did you want to tell me earlier?” 

James goes from light-hearted to solemn so quickly that Aaron is surprised he isn’t in pain from emotional whiplash. His lips tighten, and his jaw is set in a way that means he’s trying to suppress his emotions. Aaron knows the expression well, from the time when they hadn’t been close enough for James to properly express himself. It's the face he makes when he's hurting, and feels like he has to hide it. It isn’t until he’s seeing it again that Aaron realises it’s been an awfully long time since James has been this upset. He can't help but feel resentful to Thomas for evoking that feeling again.

James folds his arms again, but this time, he begins to rub his upper-arms with his hands. He looks… small. And lost. And desperately, pathetically sad.

“It’s about Thomas,” he begins, and Aaron sighs, because no good conversation begins with  _ that  _ starter.

“Do you need me to fight him? I’ll fight him for you.” It’s moot point, considering Thomas’ considerable height advantage, but if it’ll amuse James he’d willingly fight the beanstalk monster. 

“I need you to ask Thomas one more question,” James says instead, ignoring Aaron’s offer. Surprising, considering he’d usually take any opportunity to laugh at Aaron’s less-than-buff figure. “Just one, please, I’m  _ desperate.”  _

Aaron is too startled to argue. “Okay,” he agrees. “What is it?” 

“Is he poly? He mentioned a crush when we were talking in the kitchen, and if he’s not poly, then that means I have literally no chance whatsoever,” James tells him, and his voice is deceptively level, even as he worries his bottom lip and his hand goes up to tug at the scarf that’s wrapped around his neck at all times. “Not that I had any chance before, but now it’s gone from zero to minus fifty. Aaron, I need  _ help.”  _

“Okay,” Aaron agrees again. “But I don’t think you necessarily have  _ no  _ chance. You just need to get in there before the other person makes a move.” When James still looks despairing, he adds,  _ “If  _ the other person makes a move. For all you know, his crush could hate his guts. Or he could have been talking about  _ you.  _ Maybe  _ you’re  _ the crush, and he was trying to hint that he likes you. _ ”  _

Aaron, for the record, is very pleased with this last theory, and is ready to list why Thomas was  _ clearly  _ talking about him, but James just looks perplexed. “Why the hell would he talk about his crush if it was me? No one does that outside of rom-coms.”

Aaron isn’t entirely sure how to counter that, so he switches tactic. “Alex seems to think Thomas has a crush on you?” he offers. 

“Alex once spent an entire day wearing a hairnet because he forgot he had it on, I’m not exactly trusting of his observational skills.”

“I said that last time, but apparently he knew exactly what you were doing when you were asking him the questions,” Aaron points out. It’s a testament to how frazzled James is that he doesn’t even look bothered by this fact, and instead is resorting to frowning at the wall. Aaron falls silent too, mind running over the events of the day. He knows he should be helping James now, but thinking about Thomas reminds him of Alex’s argument with him earlier, and after that he can’t help but get distracted by how soft Alex looked, smiling honey-sweet under the streetlamp. He plays with the idea of how the day would have gone if it had been just Alex and Aaron watching the movie. It isn't until he imagines ditching the movie for more… interesting activities that he firmly puts out the thought before it can spread like wildfire. James needs him now, Aaron reminds himself. He shouldn't get distracted.

“There’s only one solution to this,” James says, after the silence stretches on too long. “I should kill myself.” 

“Don’t be dramatic,” Aaron sighs. Thomas has always been considered a drama-queen by pretty much anyone who ever meets him, but James is often just as bad. It takes a single cough and perhaps a sneeze for James to announce - in a deadpan voice, no less - that he is dying and needs to write a will as soon as possible. “I'll ask in the morning, I promise, okay?”

James nods, finally looking appeased, and Aaron sleeps with the heavy weight of knowing that he has no option but to interact with Thomas tomorrow.

* * *

The morning passes in a flurry, as Aaron wakes up late and ends up sprinting across campus. He’s not  _ late,  _ per se, but he hates to be anything but exactly five minutes early, and he feels irrationally annoyed when walks into the lecture just  a minute late. He has never been late since his first few weeks in freshman year, when he was still trying to figure out where everything was. What’s wrong with him?

He sits down in his usual seat (five rows from the front, four seats from the left), trying to focus on opening his books and organising everything just so. A few of his peers shoot him strange looks, clearly surprised to see that he’s not as early as he usually is. He resists the urge to shoot them dirty looks. After all, it’s not their fault that he had completely forgotten to put new batteries in his alarm clock. 

It's difficult to concentrate throughout the lecture, especially when Alex comes flying in with mussed hair, a half-opened shirt and looking as though he had just run through a tornado to get here. He looks frazzled as he enters, and mumbles what's probably an apology to Professor Washington. Of course, he's let off with only a pat to the back. Although Washington's favouritism for Alex had never been particularly difficult to see, not many noticed or commented on it. Perhaps it's just Aaron who sees it. It's impossible for him to  _ not,  _ especially when Washington seems to hate him so much. 

Instead of making his way over to where Laurens and Hercules were sitting, as Aaron had expected, Alex turns into Aaron's own row, whispering apologies as he stumbles his way across until he comes to the empty seat beside Aaron. 

“Hey,” Alex says in what he probably thinks is a whisper, but is loud enough to be heard by several rows. 

It should annoy Aaron. It really should. He should be pissed off, even more so than when he came in, he should tell Alex to sit with his stupid friends and leave him alone so he can concentrate, because he  _ knows  _ Alex is going to continue being distracting throughout the entire lecture.

“Hi,” Aaron replies instead, and he revels in the way Alex's face lighted up when he turns back to listen to Washington. It’s strange, knowing that a simple word can affect someone so much, especially when he’s so used to being an acquaintance or, at most, almost but not quite a friend. It feels… nice. He's not used to being special when he's carefully cultured a very 'harmlessly average’ atmosphere. He likes it.

Aaron is already prepared for distraction; it's almost impossible not to when in Alex's company. Alex doesn't need to focus every ounce of his attention in every lecture to pass with flying colours, and it wasn't uncommon to see him in the back, quietly nattering away in his best friends’ ears, or even scribbling down notes completely unrelated to the lecture. So he resigned himself to a less productive hour.

But in Alex's defence, he didn't bother Aaron until the last ten minutes, in which he made up for fifty minutes of nothing but secretive smiles by proceeding to refuse to leave him be.

It started off simply: five words scrawled messily on the back of his sheet. Well, Aaron's sheet. Alex had snatched it out of his grip. 

_ i know something about thomas _

Aaron hesitated after reading it. He could reply in many ways. 'What do you know?’ or 'I’d be worried if you didn't’ or 'Why are you passing notes like it's highschool?’

Finally, he settles with whispering, “Well, what is it?”

But Alex shakes his head and stares pointedly at the paper. Aaron sighs as though this is a huge inconvenience to him, but he can't bite back the smile that forms from the childishness of it all. He carefully writes down the question he posed moments before, and Alex's triumphant grin is worth it.

_ i already told you that thomas has a crush on james, right? _

_ That's the secret?  _ Aaron writes, underlining the first word to emphasise his indignation. Despite himself, he had been kind of curious to know more about Thomas, especially if it was something that would tip the odds in his favour when Aaron confronts him later. 

_ you have such little faith in me _

_ but i’ve got more _

_ i’ve got PROOF _

_ Now,  _ Aaron was interested, and he looked up to see Alex pulling out his phone with a triumphant smirk. This might just be the last push needed to convince James that Thomas really did like him, at least, if Alex was telling the truth. As Alex began with excitement building up in his gut until it was bubbling in his chest and making him feel as though he could float off his chair. Though, in retrospect, it might not have just been the possibility of getting James and Thomas together, and might have had something to do with the way Alex’s hand was now resting on Aaron’s thigh.

Alex placed one ear of the earphones in Aaron’s ear himself, his hand clumsy and stumbling with it several times. When it was finally in place, he played a short audio clip. It began abruptly, and Alex sounded as though he had been in the middle of a sentence when he was recording it. His voice was tinny and crackling through the static of the microphone, but Aaron would have recognised it anywhere.

“-how’s it going with James?” Alex was asking in the recording, sounding smug even through the phone. There was a pause, and then a disgruntled voice saying 'fuck you'. It was unmistakably Thomas', and both Alex in the recording and in the present began to snigger. Aaron, for a moment, wonders why the hell he even likes Alex so much. The man is childish beyond measure.

There's a silence, in which Alex grabs Aaron's sleeve and widens his eyes excitedly. “This is it,” he whispers. Aaron pays extra attention. 

“I don't know what I'm supposed to do,” Thomas groans in the recording. There's a rustling noise that Aaron can't identify the source of, and then, “How am I expected to act like I don't give a shit about him when he's  _ all  _ I give a shit about?”

“That sucks,” Alex says, and the present Alex pulls a grimace in sympathy. 

“He told me I look good this morning,” Thomas tells them, voice muffled. Aaron tries to imagine what he's doing. Is he covering his face with his hands? Is head down on the table? He wishes Alex had managed to somehow take a video. “And then he fixed my collar and tie, even though there was nothing  _ wrong  _ with it. How does he expect me  _ not  _ to fall in love with him?”

“I have no idea,” the Alex in the recording says dryly. “How dare he?” 

“Right?! What kind of person subjects their best friend to such torture? And to think I thought James was a decent person-”

Aaron feels his face light up, before quickly rearranging it to a more neutral expression. He could already see several people across the row shooting them curious looks, and he didn't want to draw any more attention. The last time he had acted anything out of the ordinary, it had ended up with practically everyone within Alex’s group of friends commenting on his attractiveness. Needless to say, he was keen to avoid the repetition of such an incident. But biting back his smile is more difficult than he anticipated, because Thomas basically  _ confessed.  _ Whilst explicitly referring to James, no less! There was no way that James could possibly question whether or not Thomas liked him if he heard this audio clip, there was simply no room for doubt. Aaron found himself, not for the first time, in awe of Alex’s simple ingenuity when it came to difficult situations. His plans may not have been sane every time - the Reynolds’ Incident had included Alex writing a series of tweets that outed his affair with Maria Reynolds in order to save his ass, and to this day, Aaron had no idea how Alex had managed to pull it off or why he had thought it was a sensible option - but Aaron had to admit, they were always something no one else would ever think up of. 

“This is amazing,” Aaron whispers, as Alex gently tugs the earphones out of his ears. “It’s solid proof, straight from the horse’s mouth.” 

“I know!” Alex agrees, practically vibrating in his seat. Aaron catches a glimpse of the time on Alex’s phone as he begins to send the recording to Aaron. Nine fifty-five. There are only five minutes left until the end of the lecture, and Aaron has two options: indulge Alex and continue talking to him, or try to salvage his education by seeing if there was anything else he could pick up in the last few minutes. It’s unlikely that three years of university will go down the drain because he talked to his boyfriend for an extra five minutes, but he feels a sharp pang of guilt at the thought of missing any more of the lecture. But Alex…

“Hey,” said boyfriend whispers, and Aaron is pulled out of his reverie to see Alex peering at him with concerned eyes. “Are you mad?” 

Aaron genuinely has no idea what he’s talking about, and he’s sure that his bewilderment shows on his face. “No? What would I be mad about?” 

And now Alex is sporting the most heart-breakingly guilty expression which doesn’t so much as tug at his heartstring as yanking them out of his chest in the most painful manner possible. “I shouldn’t have distracted you, I know you listen to every lecture and you actually pay attention.” 

Ah. So that’s what this is about. Aaron appreciates the sentiment - and how pouty and cute Alex looks - but it won’t make much of a difference unless Alex promises not to make it a regular habit. 

“It’s fine, as long as it doesn’t happen every time,” he says, choosing his words carefully. 

Alex nods with such vigour that Aaron has to laugh at the way his hair flops up and down with the force. “I swear it won’t.” 

“Good,” Aaron says, satisfied, and, just because he can, he leans in to kiss Alex’s cheek. The grin that blossoms on Alex’s face is completely worth the scandalised look Aaron receives from the student two seats down the row from them. “After all, we can’t all get away with top grades whilst arguing with every professor, doing a billion other essays for the fun of it, and messing around in lectures.

“Some of us are just blessed with natural talent,” Alex says in such a solemn voice that Aaron snorts. 

The professor doesn’t say anything particularly interesting in the last few minutes, but Aaron is safe in the knowledge that Alex isn’t only dating him so that he can sabotage his education. Not a worry he’d ever think he’d have to consider, but it’s nice to have that security.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alex and aaron are officially going to start playing matchmaker! but when the hell is thomas going to ask aaron out tho
> 
> tumblr is [hhhercules-mulligan](http://www.hhhercules-mulligan.tumblr.com)


	9. The Disaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so so so sorry for not posting since November! for those of you who don't know, there were a few issues in December that im still recovering from
> 
> thank you for sticking with this story despite everything!!

“Hey, Thomas,” Aaron says as he dumps his satchel bag onto the ground and sits down next to the purple-clad man. Thomas is… especially purple today, with a pale purple button-up, a purple scarf and - god forbid - a dark purple fedora. Aaron just manages to bite back any comments on his choice of hatwear, but only barely.

“Hi,” Thomas replies, distracted. He’s tapping away at his phone, and doesn’t even spare Aaron a glance. Aaron has half the mind to be offended, but he’s somewhat glad that Thomas isn't focusing his attention on him; it makes the following conversation slightly easier.

“Who are you texting?” Aaron asks casually. Thomas finally glances at him, a quick look that barely lasts half a second before looking back down at his screen.

“James,” is his short reply.

Now that Aaron thinks about it, Thomas does look slightly troubled. It's not obvious, but there's a slight crease in his brow that's not there normally, and his lips appear to be slightly pursed. Aaron can't imagine what him and James are talking about, and can't ask without coming off as suspicious. If he wants to get all the information he wants, he'll need to lie low for as long as possible. No matter what Alex says, jumping into a situation headfirst and completely blind yields no results but disaster.

He was just trying to find a way to bring up the topic of Thomas’ crush on James, when Thomas slams his phone down on the table. Aaron startles and is very close to making himself scarce, when Thomas fixes his determined gaze on him. Aaron finds himself frozen and slightly terrified. He's only ever seen that look on Thomas’ face when he's about to confront Alex, and seeing it directed at him makes him wonder if Thomas is going to actually physically fight him. Perhaps he's pissed off that Aaron trying to intervene in his love life?

“How do you feel about poly relationships?” Thomas asks bluntly.

Well, now Aaron was even more confused than before. Perfect.

“Um, they're… okay?” Aaron offers tentatively. When Thomas’ face begins to look even more stormy, he hurriedly adds, “They're pretty great, you know?”

The tension in Thomas’ jaw does not disappear, and Aaron is considering retracting his statement and claiming that poly relationships are humanity’s gravest mistake. Just as he opens his mouth to do so, Thomas interrupts him.

“Will you go on a date with me?”

Oh.

Well.

Never mind.

“Um, what do you mean by ‘date’?” Aaron asks tentatively. His gaze flickers away from Thomas’ face - which is _still_ stormy, good god, does this man not know how to smile? - and to the library entrance, which is just in sight. It would be so easy to run and never come back. He's tempted to not even listen to Thomas’ excuse, and just sprint out of the library. Maybe go to sleep for a while. Hope the world returned back to normal when he woke up again. Unfortunately, this was not an available option, not when he was too curious for his own good. He hopes this is all just a misunderstanding, that Thomas was talking about a platonic date, or maybe he’s just joking and is going to start laughing soon. Neither seem particularly realistic.

Oh god, James is going to be heart-broken.

“What else would I mean by ‘date’?” Thomas shoots back, and the furrow in his brow has only increased. Now, though, he looks less angry and more worried. So this is serious. “I mean, go get coffee, or see a movie, or have dinner together, or whatever couples do.”

“But we’re not a couple,” Aaron protests weakly.

“Do you not want to be?”

Goddamn. It wasn’t unsurprising that a man as conventionally attractive as Thomas would be able to recognise his beauty, but this pure narcissism was definitely new. Being closer to Thomas than most meant that Aaron recognised the amount of effort Thomas put into being confident, and yet not too arrogant to be unlikeable. And, from several years of slightly strained friendship, Aaron knew him well enough to understand that something was off. There was one tidbit of information that Aaron was missing to clue this shitshow together, and he had the feeling that said tidbit was dangling right in front of his face.

Then it hit him.

“You don't think I have a crush on you because of those questions, right?” Aaron asks. It's the only reasonable explanation for Thomas thinking that Aaron wanted to date him. Aaron could confidently say that he had _never_ considered Thomas in that way - and was one of very few that could say that. He was pretty sure even Alex had a crush on him at one point, amidst all the furious arguments and snide comments.

“I mean, that's pretty damning,” Thomas asks. “Not subtle at all. Alex is rubbing off in you.” A pause. “So does that mean you _don't_ want to date me?”

How the hell is Aaron supposed to phrase this without offending Thomas? Choosing his words carefully, he says, “Well, a lot of people _do_ want to date you, and it's not a reach to say you're one of the most popular guys on campus-”

“Aaron,” Thomas interrupts with an irritated sigh. “That was a yes or no question.”

Ouch. That hurt a little. Aaron's unfortunate little habit of caring about the opinion of every single person he ever encountered and even people he had never met and will never meet had an unfortunate side-effect that involved being hurt every time someone so much as looked at him wrong. Was it healthy? No. Was he actually going to challenge it? Also no.

“Um, no. I don't particularly want to date you.”

Thomas looks strangely disappointed, which makes Aaron feel like he's entered a Twilight zone, or at the very least, is in an extremely bizarre dream his brain has cooked up under the stress of assignments and pining best friends. In what world is Thomas disappointed to hear that Aaron isn't interested in him romantically? The man could have anyone he wanted, and had _just_ admitted to having a crush on James. Even if he did mistake Aaron's questioning as personal interest, why would he bother to ask him out when he was so obviously not into him?

“Well, then,” Thomas says huffily. He looks rather miffed, and turns away from Aaron again. “Your loss.”

The situation has yet to make any sense to Aaron, who finds himself floundering for something to say. “Why would you want me to go out with you?”

“Awfully curious for someone who's not interested,” Thomas mutters, but then he sighs. “Promise you won't tell your little boytoy?”

“He's not my boytoy,” is Aaron's immediate response, and then a deep regret that he won't be able to share the surreal situation he has found himself in with Alex. He knows for sure that Alex would get a damn good laugh out of it. “But sure.”

Thomas remains quiet for so long that Aaron thinks he's going to refuse to tell him. But then the words are spilling out his mouth as though he can't stop, and Aaron has to wonder how long Thomas has been trying to suppress the dam.

“Those questions you asked… I was pretty sure you liked me. And since the one guy I actually liked - the _first_ fucking guy I've ever liked - happens to be the one person whose friendship I value the most, I thought, ‘what the fuck’, you know?”

Not Thomas’ most elegant moment, but Aaron knows that Thomas doesn’t care enough to try and impress him like he strives to do with anyone he isn’t close with.

“So what you’re saying is,” Aaron begins  slowly, trying to keep his face as neutral as he could. The last thing he needs is for Thomas to wonder why Aaron looks  so giddy at the idea of him having a crush on someone else. “You’re interested in a friend, so you decided to date me instead.”

Thomas looks deeply offended, but it’s extremely difficult to take him seriously when he has a deep purple fedora made from what looked to be fucking _velvet_ perched on his head. “Well, anything sounds ridiculous if you say in that tone.”

Thomas is a lost cause, and Aaron truly has no idea why James even looked at him twice. But then again, it’s not his job to ask ‘why’, but to get the two idiots together so he can stop seeing James’ follow Thomas’ movements across the room with a look that would be more appropriate on the face of a puppy that had just been kicked.

“Maybe you should do the sensible thing and tell James how you feel?” Aaron suggests. Thomas gives him a strange look, and Aaron doesn’t blame him. Aaron is the posterboy for “bury all feelings with a straight face”, and considering how long it had taken for him to finally ask Alex out on a date (three years), he doesn’t blame Thomas for wondering why he’s suddenly advocating risk-taking. “You’re attractive, popular, already his friend, he’s pansexual and nice enough to let you down without humiliating you-” it probably says a lot about Thomas that this statement is the one that makes his muscles relax, “and close enough that you guys should still be able to hang out if he decides he doesn’t want to start a romantic relationship with you. So what’s holding you back?”

Thomas eyes him wearily. “Never thought I’d hear you, of all people, telling me to seize the day.”

“Not in so many words, but yes,” Aaron says, wishing he was still in bed so that he could sleep away this whole drama. It’s very tempting, but he’s made a promise to James, and this is the least he can do for his friend. “Ask the guy out, man.”

The silence stretches on, as Thomas’ gaze flickers from Aaron to where his phone is lying face-down on the table (it takes a Herculean effort to not cringe at the sight - he can barely think of all the scratches on the screen without wincing). Aaron focuses on not fidgeting, but the silence is getting progressively more uncomfortable and he sort of wants to bolt out of here before Thomas decides to ask him out again or something equally as ridiculous happens. Right now? He just wants to curl up in bed, preferably with some chocolate, a movie, and Alex’s body warm against his side.

“I’ve already told James that I’m going to ask you out though,” Thomas admits.

Aaron sort of wants to throw him out of the window.

“What did he say?” Aaron asks, and the weariness is clear in his tone. Perhaps he should try to be a little nicer to Thomas, who looks defeated and pitiful and everything that was very unJefferson-like, but he’s tired. Thomas seems unbothered by Aaron’s attitude, and just shrugs.

“He was very supporting,” Thomas offers. “It was mostly an experiment to see if he would be upset if I dated someone else. But… He wasn’t. So.”

Well, it’s nice to know that people only ask him out as an ‘experiment’. How flattering. Aaron pushes the matter out of his mind and focuses on comforting Thomas, who now looks as though he's just been told his kitten has died.

“It's easy to pretend you're okay with something you're not,” Aaron points out. “Especially over text. You're telling me that, if James said he was going to date someone, you wouldn't pretend you're totally one hundred percent okay with it?”

Thomas opens his mouth and looks as though he's going to argue, but, after a pause that lasts a beat too long, his mouth snaps shut. Much to Aaron's relief, he actually seems to be thinking about it, and Aaron can only hope that he reaches a logical conclusion.

“You're right,” Thomas says. Aaron's lips begin to quirk up slightly, but the moment Thomas sees this, he adds, “Which is a rare occurrence. Don't get too excited - lightening doesn't strike the same spot twice.”

“I'm not sure that's applicable to this situation, but okay,” Aaron says, smiling even wider. He's pretty sure he's just scored his best friend a date with his crush, and he's feeling pretty proud of himself. He thinks he's earned himself a reward of Netflix binges with his boyfriend and a short break from whatever assignment is waiting for him.

His phone pings with a notification, making both Thomas and Aaron startle. Thomas’ hair bounces a little when he jumps, and his expression is open and almost… vulnerable. For once, Aaron can somewhat see the appeal of the man. Huh.

Before Aaron can think anything else, another ping sounds from his phone, followed by several more. Thomas now looks annoyed.

“Can you pick that up please? Or at _least_ put it on silent?”

Aaron takes it back - what fucking appeal? Thomas is a fucking dick, and his looks would have to be deity-level ethereality to make up for his shitty personality. Aaron doesn't answer Thomas, but pulls his phone out, and is greeted with a text from James.

_You can say yes, if you want_

_Thomas said he's going to ask you out._

_It's totally fine if you wanna go on a date with him. Im not gonna be resentful or whatever_

_I'm your friend, i wanna see you happy, and Thomas is hot as hell_

_Anyway I totally recommend that you go for it_

_Good luck!_

Aaron kind of wants to strangle his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> never thought I'd find myself posting in an airport with minutes left til my flight, but here i am
> 
> my tumblr is now [petty-poetic-and-priceless](http://www.petty-poetic-and-priceless.tumblr.com). it's a poetry blog, pls pls pls support me on there! (also my insta is [dreamers_and_schemers](http://www.instagram.com/dreamers_and_schemers) \- i do photography)


	10. The Final Plan + The Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i regret writing this in present tense omfg what was i thinking

Aaron and Alex have re-grouped, because Aaron was beginning to get progressively more frustrated with the thick-headedness of Thomas and James. It had escalated to the point that Aaron is seriously considering just smashing a printer in their faces, and the last thing he wants to do is jeopardise their entire stupid mission because he can’t hold back his frustration. 

He is sitting at a bench now, ignoring passersby in favour of moodily swirling his straw through the Snickers milkshake he had snagged on his way out of the shop. It’s too thick, and the little lumps of nuts keep getting stuck up his straw, and it’s  _ way  _ too overpriced for something so small. None of this is helping to improve his mood. He can see Alex out of his peripheral vision, watching him with an amused smile. Aaron ignored him, mostly because he wasn’t done being grumpy and if he looked at Alex, he might start smiling again.

“You know, I’ve never seen you moody like this,” Alex says teasingly. Aaron tries not to react, but when the shorter man leans in to press a kiss against his cheek, Aaron can’t help but smile, just a little. The corner of his lips quirk upwards before he can stop himself, and Alex clearly notices because he lets out a triumphant cry. “There we are, that’s the Aaron we all love!” 

Aaron’s smile widens just a little more. “You know you’re an idiot, right?” he says, voice light. Alex grins, unabashed, and leans in to press a kiss against the corner of Aaron’s mouth.

“I’m  _ your  _ idiot.”

Aaron’s cheeks feel hot, and he sends thanks to his parents for giving him dark skin that hides any blushes. He gets the feeling that Alex is well aware of his effect anyway. “A little cheesy, don’t you think?” Aaron teases, instead of thinking about how he’s okay with Alex knowing the power he has over Aaron’s emotions.

Alex shrugs. “Probably. But you know who else are idiots?” 

“Thomas and James?” 

“Yep.” 

Aaron snorts, leaning back. He wants James to be happy, he really does. The man has been through so much shit that he deserves to have at least one thing go right in his life, and if that’s an annoyingly smug fedora-wearing guy who Aaron isn’t even particularly fond of, then so be it. 

Aaron sighs. “What the hell are we going to do?” 

Alex reaches out to intertwine their fingers, his hand warm and fitting perfectly into Aaron’s own. When Aaron looks at him, he’s wearing a gentle smile that is not often seen on the face of Alexander Hamilton, of all people. 

“You really do care about this, huh?” Alex asks, voice soft. Instead of answering, Aaron kisses him with enough desperation that he hopes Alex can understand his answer through the rhythm of their lips sliding together. When the break apart, his eyes are glinting with challenge. “Well, I guess we need a plan.” 

Ten minutes later, they’re calling Thomas and James separately, and what will hopefully be their last plan is set in motion. 

\--------------------------

The closet was much smaller than either of them had anticipated. Aaron had been convinced that this was a bad idea from the moment Alex had mentioned it - and had sounded too much like something that would only work in the movies - but Aaron had an awful habit of going along with almost anything Alex said, and honestly what was the harm? At worse, he’d fall out of the closet and embarrass himself. Or… well, James could fall out and get so embarrassed that he has a panic attack and Thomas realises what’s happening and shouts at them for betraying his trust and he never talks to James again and James falls into a depressive episode and Thomas takes sure to ruin their reputation across all of campus-

“Don’t over-think it,” had been Alex’s last words before he departed. 

“Are you ever going to explain what the hell is going on?” James asks within the tiny confines of the closet, sounding frustrated and tired. 

“It’ll make sense soon,” Aaron replies, and it appears that his cryptic answer does nothing to pacify James, because he huffed loudly. 

“What the hell, Aaron?” he asks. Aaron tries not to wince. “If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m gonna straight up walk out.” 

Aaron should have  _ known  _ that none of this would work, and now he’s trapped in a metaphorical corner, stuck in a dark closet with his angry best friend. Jesus, he should have never listened to Alex at all. Thinking on his feet, he blurted out, “Thomas likes you.” 

James goes terrifyingly silent. There is no sound in the closet, and Aaron can hear his heart thumping too loudly, like it’s trying to beat its way out of his ribcage. He wonders if it’s too late to abandon the plan and call Alex to rescue him out of the closet before James beats his skull in. The man may look as gentle as a bunny, but Aaron knew firsthand that he was made of pure muscle and the anger of a short man. 

“Thomas likes you,” Aaron says as calmly as he can. He’s a little proud of himself when his voice doesn’t waver. “He really does, and I know you won’t believe it without hard evidence so I’m going to prove it to you.”

James looks less angry now and more bewildered, brow furrowed in confusion as he stares at Aaron, apparently at loss  as to what to say. Aaron watches him, and hopes that James will be too intrigued by how Aaron manages to prove Thomas’ crush to protest, but then James’ mouth opens just as he hears the door of their dorm room opening, Thomas’ lazy Southern drawl ringing across the room - including the closet. The last thing Aaron needs now is for James to give away their hiding place by talking, so Aaron lunges across the closet as silently as possible to cover James’ mouth. He looks affronted but, thankfully, stays silent.

“Just because I like Aaron,” Thomas is saying, sounding both bored and annoyed. “Doesn’t mean I like  _ you.  _ Why don’t you go to couples’ counselling or someone who’ll get  _ paid  _ to put up with your bullshit.” 

“Dude, who says I need couples’ counselling?” Alex says. He sounds exasperated, and Aaron can only hope that the whole plan isn’t ruined because of Alex’s dislike for Thomas. Meanwhile, James was watching him carefully, confusion clear in his eyes. Jesus, he hopes that Alex gets on with it soon. “I wanna talk about James.” 

Thomas goes suspiciously silent for a moment. “Why?” 

Alex huffs. “Because you’re gay as fuck and it’s painful for the rest of us to watch! When are you guys going to get together?” 

“Who says we  _ are  _ going to get together?” 

James tenses, and the only thing that keeps Aaron from leaving the closet to punch Thomas in the face is knowing that Alex will find a way to make Thomas say the right thing. At least, he hopes. God, he  _ knew  _ he should have been the one to do the talking.

“Everyone knows you have a crush on him, Thomas.” Not necessarily true, but Aaron can’t exactly contradict Alex now.

“Who knows?” Thomas asks, instead of denying it. “Goddamnit Hamilton, did you tell them?” 

James is tensing even more - at this point, his muscles will probably collapses from being too stiff. 

“I didn’t tell them, but it’s obvious to anyone who has eyes-” Again, not true. “You look at him like you’re ready to give him both your kidneys if he asked.”

Thomas goes silent again, before sighing. It sounds weary. “So? It’s none of your business.”

Uh oh. Not the right thing to say. Now Alex was going to get  _ pissed.  _ He hates being reminded that he is not obligated to give his two cents on every issue. There’s nothing that riles him up than the words ‘none of your business’ and, sure enough, Alex sounds angry when he speaks again. “I don’t like you either, but James deserves someone who actually sticks with him, not someone who flirts with him one minute and then has a gay panic and goes all ‘no homo’ on him!” 

Oh. Alex was going off-script. Well. This wouldn’t end well.

“It’s not a gay panic,” Thomas snaps back. “It’s called  _ logic,  _ not that you’d know anything about that! He’s not interested in me, so I’m not going to make him uncomfortable by throwing myself all over him.”

“He-” James whispers, sounding shocked, but Aaron quickly puts his hand over his mouth again. He puts a finger to his lips, indicating for him to shut up, but he can’t be sure that James sees his gesture in the darkness of the closet, where their only source of light is a small strip coming through the bottom. James doesn’t say anything anyway.

“How do you know he doesn’t like you? Huh? Have you asked him?” Alex says. He’s using that voice that Aaron knows too well, that challenging voice that slips out when he wants to spark something in the other person. Aaron has been on the receiving end of it too many times, and knows how to ignore the blatant baiting. He  _ knows  _ Thomas recognises that voice and knows full well what Alex is trying to do, thanks to their numerous debates in class, but apparently Thomas is past caring. 

“Fine,” Thomas spits. “I’ll fucking text him, how about that? And then you can be the reason why our friendship is thrown out of the fucking window.” 

“Wait, really?” Alex sounds surprised.

“Fuck off,” is Thomas’ reply. 

There’s silence, and Aaron tries to work out what’s going on. He thinks he can hear the tapping of a screen, but he’s not entirely sure if he’s just imagining it. Instead of trying to guess what’s going on outside of the closet, he glances at James, and wonders if the man has silently fainted. He pokes James’ side, and is rewarded with a flinch. Apparently not. 

“There,” Thomas says finally. “Thanks for nothing, asshole.” And then there are footsteps, and a door slamming. 

It’s scarily silent, so much so that Aaron thinks that Alex has left the room. But seconds later, the closet door is opened and light streams into the confined space, making Aaron and James squint against the painfully bright onslaught like vampires. Alex does not wait for them to adjust to the light, nor does he even greet them. Instead, he turns to James and says, “Show me your phone.” 

“Hell no,” James grumbles, stepping out of the closet and walking past Alex. Aaron doesn’t blame him, really, but Alex looks so affronted that he reconciles him with a quick kiss. Alex is still pouting afterwards, but he doesn’t seem nearly as indignant as they watch James slowly unlock his phone. It feels a little like a lottery winner who’s invested all his savings into lottery tickets and is now waiting to find out whether or not he just ruined his own life. Except Aaron would never partake in the lottery - the chances were so mathematically low that the whole concept was-

“Shit,” James murmurs. Aaron is snapped out of his thoughts of the mathematical likelihood of winning the lottery.

“What does it say?” Alex asks eagerly, stepping forward. Aaron grabs his arm - he knows the last thing James needs right now is someone crowding his personal space. 

“He, uh, wants to meet me at the coffee shop,” James says, sounding distracted. “Shit. Shit shit shit.” 

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Aaron asks gently. “Go.” 

James looks at him first, then the text, then the door and, finally, his gaze hovers on his clothes. “Um, sure. Yeah. I’m just gonna get changed.”

And as Aaron watches him walk out of the door, he feels a little like watching his own son go to school for the first time.

“That went well,” Alex comments happily. 

“We don’t know for sure,” Aaron points out, but Alex’s giddiness is infectious. He’s practically vibrating where he stands, and god, Aaron loves that he cares so much about someone he’s not even close to anymore. It’s cute - no, more than that, it’s  _ heartwarming,  _ because he was dating a literal puppy who was excited about an ex-friend getting with his nemesis. Alex could be so sweet sometimes, and this was one of those times - buzzing with the excitement of potentially getting to people together.

“What are we going to do while we wait?” Aaron asks calmly. He lifts his hand to rest on Alex’s bare forearm, and his thumb rubs gently circles against his warm skin. Alex looks at him, clearly oblivious.

“We could follow them to the coffee shop!” Alex suggests, grinning widely. “If we wear disguises, they’ll never be able to tell it’s us, and they’ll probably be too distracted anyw-”

“Alex,” Aaron interrupts. He takes a step closer, right into Alex’s personal space. His hand stays on Alex’s arm, but the other comes up to brush Alex’s soft bottom lip with his thumb, as he watches understanding lighten up Alex’s eyes. “What are we going to do while we wait?” 

Alex grins wickedly, and less than a second later, their lips are reconnecting to create magic. 

* * *

Seven years later, and Thomas and James are getting married. Alex is in his best (aka, his least shabby) suit, and although his political arguments with Thomas have not ceased, he appears extremely excited. His left leg is jiggling furiously as he sits, watching Aaron help James get ready. James had just had a panic attack, and Thomas had come rushing down, marriage traditions be damned. James had mostly calmed down, and now had his face buried in Thomas’ chest as he held him. Aaron stood a little way back, unwilling to intrude.

“Will you ever stop shaking your leg, Alex?” James asks, words mumbled by the material of Thomas’ extravagant tux. 

Alex huffs, offended. “What? I’m excited for you guys!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Thomas says. “Just make sure you catch the damn bouquet when we throw it. Aaron’s got a whole Pinterest for weddings and it’s making me miserable.” 

“Shut up, Thomas,” Aaron sighs, but Alex only laughs loudly. The two of them have already acknowledged that they would like to get married - a conversation that was prompted by Thomas’ and James’ own wedding - and that was the only thing that stopped Aaron from running out of the room with mortification.

“Aww, I had no idea you were so excited,” Alex teases.

“I can’t take you seriously when your collar’s out of place,” Aaron replies. Alex frowns, looking down to check his collar, but Aaron is striding across the room before he can fix the crooked angle. He swiftly rearranges the collar, fixes his tie, and if his fingers hover slightly on the warmth of Alex’s neck… Well, nobody needed to know.

“That’s going to be us one day,” Alex says. “That’ll be us getting married.” His breath tickles Aaron’s chin, and he’s watching Aaron with such starstruck eyes that Aaron’s heart jolts, even after all these years together. Sometimes, Aaron is surprised by the intensity of Alex’s love for him - perhaps a consequence of what many psychiatrists would love to call his ‘troubled childhood’. It fascinates him that the man he loves just happens to love him back in the same way at the same time. So many factors happening to slot together at the same time that he can’t help but see their relationship as a miracle.

“Yeah,” Aaron replies softly. “That’ll be us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE! ARE! FINISHED! i updated this first because it was voted most on my poll on [this post](http://hhhercules-mulligan.tumblr.com/post/159649674688/poll-which-fic-should-i-update) i made on tumblr ((btw!! im back on tumblr!! im [hhhercules-mulligan](http://www.hhhercules-mulligan.tumblr.com)) 
> 
> also, i'm talking to a really cute girl on instagram and she's so sweet and lovely and agghhh wish me luck guys i hope i dont fuck this up


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